Cabots Old Indian

Pueblo Museum

CABOT YERXA'S ARRIVAL

Cabot Yerxa came to this desert in 1913 as one of the very first homesteaders. He walked in during the night from the railroad with some food in a paper bag and a quart of water but he had no blanket. For two weeks he kept warm at night by a campfire and slept some in the daytime by lying on the sand warmed by the sunshine.

After much walking and exploring, he finally made a homestead of 160 acres.  At that time there were 100,000 acres of desert land open and no roads. It seems fantastic now but at that time no one was interested in desert with no water or anything deemed essential by the city people.

In the beginning he slept on the ground by a fire or in the sunshine. Then he dug a hole in a bank and lived there with no roof, no floor, no windows, no bed, no door, no chair and no stove. He cooked on a campfire. Next came a one room cabin which was 10 feet by 12 feet in size with walls of one inch boarding.

Money was scarce in those early days.  However when Yerxa finally came into possession of $10 he purchased a black burro which he named "Merry Xmas".

EAGLES NEST CABIN

In 1914 Yerxa very laboriously dug a large hole with pick and shovel on the crown of Miracle Hill, the location of which could not be seen. Then in the hole he had made was constructed the first permanent building in the area - EAGLE'S NEST CABIN. It was 10 feet by 20 feet in size and built of stone. Cabot and Merry Xmas would walk seven miles over the desert to the railroad station at Garnet. Here they each got a drink of water. Then a 100 pound sack of cement was placed on the back of each and they walked back to the homestead cabin - another seven miles. 

Eagle's Nest Cabin had one door and one window out to the world but the rest was practically underground. A fireplace in one end added cheer and warmth. The main idea was to get out of the wind and to make safe storage for belongings.

Every few days Merry Christmas would climb the hill about noon time after having eaten wild grass or sage brush and lay down to rest. When Yerxa opened his paper bag of lunch or fried a little bacon or beans over a campfire, Merry Christmas stepped right forward and was given half the lunch. She would eat meat, potatoes, beans, bread or anything at all. She would chew tobacco and could drink water out of a bottle. Merry Christmas became famous because of her unusual characteristics and intelligence. She was stolen while Yerxa was a soldier in World War I.

All went well for years but the inevitable happened. Eagle's Nest was discovered by vandals and made a shambles. Later it was wrecked and buried beneath the sand on top of Miracle Hill.

OLD INDIAN PUEBLO

By 1941 there was talk of a town at Desert Hot Springs; so Yerxa started the Old Indian Pueblo near the mountains. The architecture is Hopi Indian style, like that found in New Mexico 1000 years or so ago.  The structure is four stories high, contains 150 windows and 65 doors, 17 of which lead to the outside.

Having no money at the time, he took a pick and shovels and cut down the mountainside, put the earth in wheelbarrows and filled up the canyon to make a front yard. This took about one year and then he built the pueblo in the hole he had made because he wanted it to fit into the mountain.

The east wall on the ground floor is 100 feet long and has no doors or windows. The sun rises but does not shine into the rooms downstairs until it is on the way down. This makes for coolness. He worked some 20 or more years on the building. The east wall is 24 inches thick at the bottom and 10 inches or thicker at the top. For most of the construction, he hauled sand in a Model T Ford. The rocks and water for cement were transported in barrels. He mixed it all by hand in a box and did most of the construction alone. On occasion he had another man help him.

There are 35 small rooms in this unfinished building. There never was a blueprint and the lumber is all "recycled". Poles were retrieved from mountain floods, many railroad ties were used and some timbers came out of the Metropolitan Aqueduct tunnels. Bent and rusty nails were saved to straighten and use again.

Cabot's Pueblo is one of the most fantastic structures in Southern California. Cabot Yerxa has built part of his soul into these adobe walls. His "castle" is an incredible building which stands as a fitting monument to his faith and love for this desert community.

THE PUEBLO SINCE 1965 -- Cole Eyraud

In March of 1965 Cabot Yerxa passed away at the age of 83 while reading his paper in the kitchen of his home - the Old Indian Pueblo.

It was a close call that the Pueblo did not share the same fate as Eagles Nest Cabin in the 2 -1/2 years it was vacant.  During a vacation in Desert Hot Springs, Cole Eyraud visited the Pueblo only to find that Cabot had died, the building lay open to vandals and the city had intended to destroy the structure because Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo was a nuisance and an eyesore.

Appalled at the condition of the Pueblo and the plans for it, Cole founded Landmark Conservators, a state and federal non-profit corporation dedicated to restoring landmarks such as Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo Museum as part of our American Heritage. It was through the efforts of Cole Eyraud that this structure still stands as it did when Cabot built it.

 

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MUSEUM ADDRESS:

Edna Wells, Curator

Cabots Pueblo Museum

67-616 East Desert View Avenue,

Desert Hot Springs, CA. 92240
 

Phone: (760) 329-7610

MUSEUM HOURS:

Friday:           10AM to 3PM

Saturday:      10AM to 3PM
 

(Closed June thru September)

Call for Summer Hours (760) 329-7610



DRIVING DIRECTIONS:

1. From I-10, Exit Palm Drive North; Palm Drive to Hacienda BLVD, right;
2. Follow Hacienda 1 mile; Veer left on to Miracle Hill.
3. At stop, turn right onto Desert View; CABOT'S MUSEUM is the second building on the left.
   
   
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