The Pacific Union College by George A. Irwin

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 17, 1910

The Pacific Union College

By George A. Irwin

At the annual California conference, held recently in Lodi, the educational work on the Pacific Coast received very careful consideration. For a number of years, our denominational school work in this field has been in rather an unorganized condition. Since the close of the Healdsburg College, nearly two years ago, there has been no general training-school of collegiate grade in the Pacific Union Conference.

For some years prior to the closing of Healdsburg College, it was thought by many that a property more suitable for school work should be secured, so that the students in training might be surrounded by wholesome and uplifting influences, and might have opportunity to secure the development of character that comes to those who combine mental and moral training with a proper exercise of the body in useful labor. At various times, an effort was made to find a suitable place to which the school work carried on at Healdsburg might be transferred. Sister E. G. White was intensely interested in this movement, and urged the brethren to persevere in their search for a property that could be utilized to advantage.

In August, 1908, a property at Buena Vista, near Sonoma, was found, and a contract was entered into for its purchase. But before the time came for the property to be turned over to our people, the owner made conditions that our brethren did not feel free to comply with. The failure to secure this property was a great disappointment to those who were negotiating for its purchase; but Sister White told them that the matter would come out all right,—that the Lord had some better place, and that they should make further search.

In a little while, the brethren found a place, known as the Angwin summer resort. This place is located eight miles from the town of St. Helena, the nearest railway station, and less than six miles from the St. Helena Sanitarium. It is situated on Howell Mountain, at an elevation of 1,750 feet. The place includes 1,636 acres, five hundred of which is under fence. Near the buildings, there is a beautiful and fertile valley, containing one hundred five acres of excellent farm and garden land in a good state of cultivation. In this tillable tract of land there is twenty acres of bearing orchard and small fruits, including apples, peaches, cherries, prunes, plums, quinces, blackberries, and grapes. Thirty acres, accessible to an ample supply of water for irrigation, is suitable for gardening purposes.

On the property there are, all told, about twenty buildings, in excellent condition. The large hotel has more than thirty rooms, including parlor, sitting-room, a dining-room thirty-six by thirty-six feet, a large kitchen with modern conveniences, and twenty-nine bedrooms. Beneath are ample cellars, and flanking the building on either side are several cottages, with a combined capacity for about sixty persons. There are roomy barns for horses, for cattle, and for grain; a carpenter- and blacksmith-shop fitted with tools, a large swimming tank one hundred by forty feet, a power-house, and other smaller buildings. In addition to these, there is an amusement hall thirty-six by seventy-two feet, attached to which is a billiard room, and also a bowling alley sixteen by eighty-five feet. The amusement hall has been transformed into a chapel, and the bowling alley and billiard room are utilized as recitation rooms, thus making it possible for the managers to conduct a school of moderate size, fairly well equipped, without having to erect other buildings the first year.

This whole property was purchased for sixty thousand dollars. Taking into account the large amount of timber on the place, which some have estimated will yield several millions of feet of sawed lumber; and also taking into account the fruit, and the abundant water-supply (springs with a daily flow of two hundred seventy-six thousand gallons), as well as the isolation of the property from the wicked influences that are always at work in the plains and near our large cities, this property is an ideal place upon which to carry forward an industrial school for the education, training, and discipline of those who desire to become practical missionaries.

Up to the time of the meeting held at Lodi early in February of this year, the Angwin school, or “Pacific College,” as it was first named, has been a California Conference enterprise. At the time of the union conference recently held at Mountain View, the delegates and representatives thought that it should be made a union conference school, and carried forward as the college for the Pacific Union Conference, rather than as a school for a local State conference.

When this proposal was brought up for study during the California Conference meeting at Lodi, our general educational policy was discussed, and resolutions were adopted that we follow the plan outlined by the General Conference in behalf of the unification of our educational work. It was also unanimously voted to make the Angwin school the college for the union. A board of seven directors for the ensuing school year was appointed.

This board met on the school grounds, February 9, 10, and, after organizing, took up the problem of selecting a faculty, and discussed plans regarding the future policy of the school. It was the unanimous consensus of opinion of the board that, while this school should provide for a full collegiate course, and choose teachers who are qualified to carry the different departments in a good, strong way, at the same time the industrial feature should be strictly adhered to.

Inasmuch as the Angwin property was not purchased until nearly all of our other schools were in operation last fall, it could not be expected that there would be a large attendance the opening year. No calendar or formal announcement in regard to the school was put out before its doors were opened for students. Nevertheless, there has already been an enrolment of about seventy-five, and a good beginning has been made in actual school work. And now that, by the action of the Pacific Union and the California conferences, this school has been made a college for the entire Pacific Union Conference, we may reasonably expect a good attendance next year.

It was my privilege to spend Sabbath and Sunday, February 12, 13, at the college, and to speak three times to the students. During the Friday evening service, when the time came for a social meeting, nearly every student in the chapel bore testimony.

Those having charge of the school anticipated some difficulty in the beginning, to get the students to co-operate heartily in an effort to follow the industrial plan; but I am told that there has not been so much difficulty in this direction as was anticipated. Most of the students who are now in attendance, seem to be in full sympathy with this method of education, and both the young men

and the young women are taking hold in earnest. It was certainly a gratifying sight to see some of the young men getting their teams and wagons and axes and tools, preparatory to going out to cut and haul timber. Others were starting out with their implements to prune the orchards; still others were preparing to plow land for a vegetable garden; while another company were starting out with two yoke of oxen to haul logs for the sawmill. The whole place was a scene of busy activity, and all the workers seemed cheerful and happy.

A sawmill has been purchased, and will soon be ready for operation. There are two or three hundred logs already cut, and some of these have been hauled to the mill. The limbs from the felled trees are being hauled in and sawed into stove wood with a buzz-saw connected with the engine.

It is the plan of the managers to supply work to many young men who desire to pay part of their tuition in this way. From the timber hauled to the mill, lumber will be cut not only for sale, but to build any buildings that may be needed on the grounds. In the erecting of the buildings, the principles of carpentry will be thoroughly taught to the young men.

A calendar will soon be issued, announcing the various lines of book study offered, and also the industrial departments to be carried forward in connection with the operation of the school. Each department is to be manned by competent and experienced teachers of reputation in the denomination.

In my judgment, there are great possibilities before Pacific Union College, and I bespeak for it both the interest and the patronage of parents and guardians who believe in industrial education, and who would be pleased to have their children attend a school that is isolated from the evil influences to be found everywhere near the great centers of population.

GEO. A. IRWIN.