Ellen G. White: The Later Elmshaven Years: 1905-1915 (vol. 6)

The Oakland Camp Meeting (July 19-29)

Ellen White considered it her duty to attend the camp meeting in northern California in Oakland (The Review and Herald, October 4, 1906), and accepted the invitation to assist with the meetings. As was her custom, she took several members of her office staff with her, prepared to carry on her regular work as time permitted. 6BIO 105.2

The trip to Oakland in 1906 was quite different from what it is today when in little more than an hour the sixty-five miles may be traversed over paved highways and a bay-spanning bridge. Iram James, the farm manager, drove the traveling party the three miles to the Southern Pacific Railway station in St. Helena to catch the 7:30 A.M. train. At about nine o'clock they reached the line's end at Carquinez Strait. From here the passengers were shuttled by ferry to Crockett to catch an Oakland-bound train. The trip with all its connections took a little more than three hours. 6BIO 105.3

A well-situated lot in Oakland on 41st Street, between Grove and Telegraph, was the site chosen for the camp meeting. It was easily accessible to travelers by steam train, electric train, and streetcars. It was in a residential area, so there was hope of a good attendance from non-Adventists. The 200 family tents, together with the big tent and other meeting tents, were in readiness as Ellen White and her party came onto the grounds early Thursday afternoon. She and her granddaughter Mabel settled in one tent, the others in a tent next to it. She was pleased that hers was conveniently close to the large meeting tent. 6BIO 105.4

Her first appointment was on Friday; she thought she would speak three or four times during that camp meeting (Ibid.). When the meetings were over ten days later, she had spoken seven times, with some of the meetings running more than an hour. But to her surprise, and to the surprise of those close to her, these meetings seemed to be no drain on her strength. Of this she wrote: 6BIO 106.1

After speaking before that immense congregation, not one phase of weakness was upon me; this was the greatest wonder to me. I was as one refreshed from the beginning to the close of the meeting. This was a new phase in my experience. 6BIO 106.2

All who heard me, say that it was a miracle that my strength was sustained from beginning to end. Praise the Lord that He has given me His Holy Spirit.—Letter 250, 1906. 6BIO 106.3

In the days before public-address systems it was a real accomplishment to make a thousand people hear, but at the age of 78 she did this time after time. Reporting the experience in the October 4 Review and Herald, she made the simple statement “I was refreshed physically,” and then told of how she was able also” to do much writing every day.” The fact that many non-Adventists attended the evening evangelistic meetings thrilled her heart. 6BIO 106.4