The Southern California Sanitariums by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1906

The Southern California Sanitariums

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

It is now about three weeks since, in company with Elder Cottrell and his wife, we left the East for southern California. Southern California has long been known as a haven for those seeking health. It is now fast becoming a health

resort for the world, if it is not such already. Twelve thousand people in Chicago are reported as having ticketed for Los Angeles in one day. Los Angeles, the center of southern California as a health resort, is fast becoming the Europe of America. The streets are crowded with people from all parts of the world.

We have a vegetarian restaurant in Los Angeles, which daily feeds about one thousand people. In looking over the bill of fare, we counted a variety of ninety-six dishes for dinner and twenty-six kinds of drinks, all hygienic. As far as appearance goes, this restaurant is a source of light to the thousands of people that patronize it.

We have three sanitariums in southern California. One is in San Diego County, near National City, called the Paradise Valley Sanitarium. One, the Glendale Sanitarium, is eight miles north of Los Angeles, and is reached from the city by a trolley line. The manager informed us that it was at the present time earning from six hundred to seven hundred dollars a month above expenses. The other is about sixty miles east of Los Angeles on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and is called Loma Linda, meaning “hill beautiful.”

In attempting to describe this latter place, language would fail to give any of our friends in the East, who have not visited southern California, any idea of the situation. It is situated in the San Bernardino Valley on an elevation of from two to three hundred feet. This hill is about two hundred rods from the station, and the road leading to the buildings is lined with pepper-trees, the branches of which are so interwoven at the top that the piercing rays of the summer sun can not find their way through to the traveler. From this road one hundred steps will take you to the front door. There is a carriage drive that winds around the hill, which will also take you to the same place.

The main building was erected for a sanitarium, and contains sixty-four rooms. Back of it, on the crown of the hill, are six or seven cottages built for the use of patients. These cottages are beautifully arranged. Each room has a large window and a veranda, and the window is so constructed that if one chooses, the bed can be rolled out of the window onto the veranda, thus placing the patient in the open air. Everything that nature and the hand of man can do has united in making this a beautiful place.

The aggregate saving to the cause on the original cost of the three sanitariums in southern California has been not less than two hundred thousand dollars. The Loma Linda buildings and grounds cost, according to the estimate of those who built and equipped the place, one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars. It was purchased for forty thousand dollars. The other sanitariums were purchased at a greater per cent of discount from their original cost.

The main building at Loma Linda is nearly full of patients. The two other sanitariums are well patronized. Certainly in the purchase of these sanitariums we have seen fulfilled the promise of goodly buildings that thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not.” Deut. 6:11. Most literally is this fulfilled in the property at Loma Linda.

There are many mountains in southern California whose peaks reach above the snow line, so that the valleys are supplied with pure water from the mountains. San Bernardino outrivals almost every other valley in its altitude and arrangement. It is about ten by twenty miles in size. All features combine to make it an attractive place to the traveler.

Every room in the Loma Linda institution is furnished, and contains everything needed to make it a first-class sanitarium. The main building is on the northern crest of the hill, amid a splendid ornamentation of lawns, trees, shrubs, and flowers. With groves of orange, lemon, olive, and apricot trees, there is a labyrinth of shaded walks and graded driveways, by which one can approach any portion or reach any cottage that is designed for the patients. On every side extends the wide, radiant valley, rich in fruits and grains, rimmed in by high hills and towering mountains. All the buildings have the latest sanitary equipments, including steam heat, electric lights, private baths, and pure snow water, which is conveyed from the mountains to all parts of the “hill beautiful.” The altitude is about thirteen hundred feet above sea-level. There are in all seventy-six acres of land, twelve acres of which is an orange orchard in bearing condition. Nothing that money could do has been left undone to make the place attractive.

From the top of the building eleven cities can be seen, beginning with Redlands, which is about three miles south. This city was the one selected by the State to welcome the late President McKinley, and afterward President Roosevelt. Both of these men were entranced with the beauty of the city of Redlands. Its population numbers about ten thousand people. San Bernardino, the largest city of the group, contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants. The valley is extremely warm in the summer. This can be the only drawback to the location for a sanitarium. In this respect the Paradise Valley Sanitarium, situated in San Diego County, has some advantage over the Loma Linda Sanitarium. The climate in San Diego varies only ten or fifteen degrees the year round, and there is a constant sea-breeze. The droughts in the past have caused many of the people in National City to leave the place, but at the present time arrangements are being made to furnish the city with water. An immense reservoir is located on the hills. This year it is full of water, and it is hoped there will be sufficient water to supply National City during the dry season. The providence of God has especially favored our people in digging a well. They have plenty of water from two wells, the water being pumped to a high elevation, and from there it supplies the sanitarium.

Since southern California is such a health resort for the world, it is one of our greatest missionary fields. We find people here of all nationalities. Surely the Lord has gone before his people in opening the way for the establishment of these sanitariums that the light placed in them may send forth its rays to all parts of the world.

After spending a few days at each of these sanitariums, we came directly to St. Helena, to the home of Sister White. We expect soon to return to labor in the southern part of California. Our future address will be Loma Linda, Redlands, Cal. S. N. HASKELL.