Cabot Abram Yerxa, Pioneer
Cabot Yerxa was known in his lifetime as "The Father of Desert Hot Springs." Born in Sioux territory at his parent's trading post, he was guest of Mexican president Porfirio Diaz at the Castillo de Chapultepec in the 1890's, member of an Inuit household during the heady years of the Alaska gold rush, importer of Cuban cigars following the Spanish-American War, political appointee of Theodore Roosevelt, citrus baron, desert homesteader, discoverer of the aquifers that have made Desert Hot Springs a world-renowned health center, soldier in WWI (where he attained the rank of sergeant with the 345th Battalion Tank Corps), student at Academie Julien in 1920's Paris, world traveler, city father, Impressionist painter, newspaper columnist, mystic and builder of Desert Hot Spring's only museum - an epic monument that is an much a sculpture as it is a building. Cabot Yerxa held dozens of jobs in as many fields – everything from postmaster to carnie. It is said that he visited all 50 states. At times he was wealthy, mostly he wasn't. He was largely self-taught; "home schooled" is the term used more frequently these days, and throughout his long life he would thoroughly research any topic that interested him. He collected things obsessively, and recycled virtually everything. He loved all aspects of nature; animals, plants, geology and the starry night sky. He saw UFOs. He was a Theosophist and a Freemason. He traveled the world. He married twice and had a son. He immersed himself in the cultures of indigenous Americans. When he finally "settled down" at the age of 60, it was to build his masterpiece, a sprawling 5,000 square foot, four-story structure inspired by Hopi pueblos and said to contain 35 completed rooms and 150 windows. This structure was primarily designed to be his "castle," but Yerxa also intended it to house a trading post / art gallery and to function as an artist's colony. This structure, which Cabot referred to as "the castle" or "Miracle Hill" in his personal dealings, was named "Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo" for the public. He had a "trading post" and gave tours of his domicile to tourists out for a day trip. The story of Cabot's pueblo might be considered to be as strange and wonderful as the story of Cabot himself. It is now a museum and is substantively unchanged from 1965; a slice of local history and desert lore.
Cabot Yerxa was known in his lifetime as "The Father of Desert Hot Springs." Born in Sioux territory at his parent's trading post, he was guest of Mexican president Porfirio Diaz at the Castillo de Chapultepec in the 1890's, member of an Inuit household during the heady years of the Alaska gold rush, importer of Cuban cigars following the Spanish-American War, political appointee of Theodore Roosevelt, citrus baron, desert homesteader, discoverer of the aquifers that have made Desert Hot Springs a world-renowned health center, soldier in WWI (where he attained the rank of sergeant with the 345th Battalion Tank Corps), student at Academie Julien in 1920's Paris, world traveler, city father, Impressionist painter, newspaper columnist, mystic and builder of Desert Hot Spring's only museum - an epic monument that is an much a sculpture as it is a building. Cabot Yerxa held dozens of jobs in as many fields – everything from postmaster to carnie. It is said that he visited all 50 states. At times he was wealthy, mostly he wasn't. He was largely self-taught; "home schooled" is the term used more frequently these days, and throughout his long life he would thoroughly research any topic that interested him. He collected things obsessively, and recycled virtually everything. He loved all aspects of nature; animals, plants, geology and the starry night sky. He saw UFOs. He was a Theosophist and a Freemason. He traveled the world. He married twice and had a son. He immersed himself in the cultures of indigenous Americans. When he finally "settled down" at the age of 60, it was to build his masterpiece, a sprawling 5,000 square foot, four-story structure inspired by Hopi pueblos and said to contain 35 completed rooms and 150 windows. This structure was primarily designed to be his "castle," but Yerxa also intended it to house a trading post / art gallery and to function as an artist's colony. This structure, which Cabot referred to as "the castle" or "Miracle Hill" in his personal dealings, was named "Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo" for the public. He had a "trading post" and gave tours of his domicile to tourists out for a day trip. The story of Cabot's pueblo might be considered to be as strange and wonderful as the story of Cabot himself. It is now a museum and is substantively unchanged from 1965; a slice of local history and desert lore.
Cabot Abram Yerxa, Pioneer
Cabot Yerxa was known in his lifetime as "The Father of Desert Hot Springs." Born in Sioux territory at his parent's trading post, he was guest of Mexican president Porfirio Diaz at the Castillo de Chapultepec in the 1890's, member of an Inuit household during the heady years of the Alaska gold rush, importer of Cuban cigars following the Spanish-American War, political appointee of Theodore Roosevelt, citrus baron, desert homesteader, discoverer of the aquifers that have made Desert Hot Springs a world-renowned health center, soldier in WWI (where he attained the rank of sergeant with the 345th Battalion Tank Corps), student at Academie Julien in 1920's Paris, world traveler, city father, Impressionist painter, newspaper columnist, mystic and builder of Desert Hot Spring's only museum - an epic monument that is an much a sculpture as it is a building. Cabot Yerxa held dozens of jobs in as many fields – everything from postmaster to carnie. It is said that he visited all 50 states. At times he was wealthy, mostly he wasn't. He was largely self-taught; "home schooled" is the term used more frequently these days, and throughout his long life he would thoroughly research any topic that interested him. He collected things obsessively, and recycled virtually everything. He loved all aspects of nature; animals, plants, geology and the starry night sky. He saw UFOs. He was a Theosophist and a Freemason. He traveled the world. He married twice and had a son. He immersed himself in the cultures of indigenous Americans. When he finally "settled down" at the age of 60, it was to build his masterpiece, a sprawling 5,000 square foot, four-story structure inspired by Hopi pueblos and said to contain 35 completed rooms and 150 windows. This structure was primarily designed to be his "castle," but Yerxa also intended it to house a trading post / art gallery and to function as an artist's colony. This structure, which Cabot referred to as "the castle" or "Miracle Hill" in his personal dealings, was named "Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo" for the public. He had a "trading post" and gave tours of his domicile to tourists out for a day trip. The story of Cabot's pueblo might be considered to be as strange and wonderful as the story of Cabot himself. It is now a museum and is substantively unchanged from 1965; a slice of local history and desert lore.
Cabot Yerxa was known in his lifetime as "The Father of Desert Hot Springs." Born in Sioux territory at his parent's trading post, he was guest of Mexican president Porfirio Diaz at the Castillo de Chapultepec in the 1890's, member of an Inuit household during the heady years of the Alaska gold rush, importer of Cuban cigars following the Spanish-American War, political appointee of Theodore Roosevelt, citrus baron, desert homesteader, discoverer of the aquifers that have made Desert Hot Springs a world-renowned health center, soldier in WWI (where he attained the rank of sergeant with the 345th Battalion Tank Corps), student at Academie Julien in 1920's Paris, world traveler, city father, Impressionist painter, newspaper columnist, mystic and builder of Desert Hot Spring's only museum - an epic monument that is an much a sculpture as it is a building. Cabot Yerxa held dozens of jobs in as many fields – everything from postmaster to carnie. It is said that he visited all 50 states. At times he was wealthy, mostly he wasn't. He was largely self-taught; "home schooled" is the term used more frequently these days, and throughout his long life he would thoroughly research any topic that interested him. He collected things obsessively, and recycled virtually everything. He loved all aspects of nature; animals, plants, geology and the starry night sky. He saw UFOs. He was a Theosophist and a Freemason. He traveled the world. He married twice and had a son. He immersed himself in the cultures of indigenous Americans. When he finally "settled down" at the age of 60, it was to build his masterpiece, a sprawling 5,000 square foot, four-story structure inspired by Hopi pueblos and said to contain 35 completed rooms and 150 windows. This structure was primarily designed to be his "castle," but Yerxa also intended it to house a trading post / art gallery and to function as an artist's colony. This structure, which Cabot referred to as "the castle" or "Miracle Hill" in his personal dealings, was named "Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo" for the public. He had a "trading post" and gave tours of his domicile to tourists out for a day trip. The story of Cabot's pueblo might be considered to be as strange and wonderful as the story of Cabot himself. It is now a museum and is substantively unchanged from 1965; a slice of local history and desert lore.
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