Cabot's Pueblo Museum

Cabot's Pueblo Museum is an American historic house museum located in Desert Hot Springs, California, and built by Cabot Yerxa, an early pioneer of the Colorado Desert. A large, Hopi-style pueblo, built in the Pueblo Revival Style, it contains artworks, artifacts of American Indian and Alaska Native cultures, and memorabilia of early desert homesteader life. The museum may also be referred to as Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo Museum, Cabot's Trading Post or Yerxa's Discovery. Origins of the name The house and surrounding structures were self-built by Cabot Abram Yerxa (1883–1965), an early 20th-century homesteader in the Coachella Valley. It is named as "Cabot’s Old Indian Pueblo Museum" in its application for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The California State Parks Office of Historic Preservation lists it as "Yerxa's Discovery". History Yerxa was an adventurer who first settled on 160 acres (65 ha) in Southern California's Coachella Valley in 1913. He established his home, The Eagle's Nest, on a hill he would later name Miracle Hill. Using a pick and shovel to dig wells, Yerxa discovered two aquifers on opposite sides of the hill, which happened to be separated by the Mission Creek Fault, a branch of the San Andreas Fault. The first aquifer was a natural hot spring with a temperature of 110 °F (43 °C) in the Desert Hot Springs Sub-Basin and which would later help give rise to the area's spas and resorts. The second, on the opposite side of the fault, was a cold aquifer of the Mission Springs Sub-Basin. This same aquifer provides fresh water to the city of Desert Hot Springs and has received awards for exceptional taste. In May, 1917, Yerxa left the desert to join the Army during World War I. He returned to the desert in 1937, and in 1939 began building a museum to house his collection of Native American and other artifacts. He fashioned the building as a Hopi Indian pueblo in honor of the Indian people, and he opened Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo in 1950. He operated it with his wife, Portia, until his death in 1965. Upon his death Portia returned to her native Texas and the structure was abandoned. Yerxa's friend Cole Eyraud protected the settlement after his death and after it had been abandoned and vandalized. Eyraud and his family purchased the complex, restoring it and later donating it to the City of Desert Hot Springs. Architecture The centerpiece of the complex is a large, Hopi-style pueblo, in the Pueblo Revival Style of architecture. The main building is a four-story, 5000 square foot (465 sq.m) structure with 35 rooms, 150 windows, 65 doors and 30 different roof levels. The pueblo and all the outbuildings on the site were built primarily from scrap wood and sheet metal all scavenged from the surrounding desert by Yerxa. It has a system of vents and shafts built into the walls to keep it cool in the summer. Exhibits Among the collections of the museum are: America Indian and Alaska Native artifacts, including Native American pottery Artwork of Yerxa Documents, including photographs and Yerxa related correspondence A later addition to the site is that of the Waokiye, or "traditional helper" in the Lakota language. Waokiye is the twenty-seventh sculpture in a series of 74 giant Native American heads, collectively known as the Trail of the Whispering Giants, carved during a twenty-one-year period by artist Peter Wolf Toth. The 43-foot sculpture was carved with the use of power tools from a section of a 45-ton (46 metric ton) giant sequoia log. The 750-year-old tree, which originally stood in Sequoia National Park, had been felled by lightning in the mid-1950s. All but the feather in Waokiye's headband was carved from the log. The feather was carved from an incense cedar from the nearby mountain community of Idyllwild. The statue was unveiled on May 20, 1978; it was repaired and rededicated by Toth on February 21, 2009. At present, it is the only one of the sculptures left in California. Operations The City of Desert Hot Springs owns the museum and it is operated by the Cabot's Museum Foundation, a non-profit corporation. Cabot's Museum Foundation is a member of the American Alliance of Museums. In 2008 the Museum Foundation opened "Cabot's Trading Post & Gallery" to feature artwork from local artists. A set of 24 solar panels on a nearby hillside provides electric power to the museum. The museum is developing plans to expand visitor facilities including an amphitheater, hiking trails, and a cultural campus. In 2009 numerous artifacts from the pueblo were removed to an undisclosed location. In 2010 the Balboa Art Conservation Center of San Diego, California, conducted a study of the museum and reported that improvements in air filtration, lighting, and landscape irrigation were needed. Transportation Line 14 of the SunLine Transit Agency serves Desert Hot Springs from Palm Springs. Notes References Bibliography Minckler, Karen; Bethany, Schroeder; Cole, Eyraud (1986). The Legend of Cabot Yerxa. Desert Hot Springs, CA: Cabot's Museum Foundation. OCLC 272397224. Raef, Laura (February 1970), "White Man's Pueblo" (PDF), Desert Magazine, pp. 8–9, 37, archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2011, retrieved November 11, 2011 Reprinted as Raef, Laura (February 1984), "White Man's Pueblo" (PDF), Desert Magazine, pp. 18–19, archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2011, retrieved November 11, 2011 Roy, George M. (November 1952), "Cabot Yerxa's Crazy House" (PDF), Desert Magazine, vol. 15, no. 11, pp. 9–11, archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2011, retrieved November 11, 2011; Also available at: [1]. Further reading Coffee, L. W. (2008) [First published 1948]. Desert Hot Springs: Why?. Desert Hot Springs, CA: Cabot's Museum Foundation. Effinger, Bill (2011). The Vortex Made Me Do It! : The Mystery and History of Desert Hot Springs. San Marcos, CA: New Century Publishing. p. 486. ISBN 978-0615470207. Hunt, John J. (2006). The Waters of Comfort (The History of Desert Hot Springs California) (revised and updated ed.). Little Morongo Press. p. 275. ASIN B000W6EMS8. OCLC 52917018. Japenga, Ann (March 2007). "Rearview: Love Letters (and numbers). Eccentric Cabot Yerxa wooed a teacher of metaphysics with symbolism". Palm Springs Life. Palm Springs, CA: Desert Publications, Inc. Japenga, Ann (December 2007). "Rear View – Companions in Exploration: Early prospectors relied heavily on beasts of burden". Palm Springs Life. Palm Springs, CA: Desert Publications, Inc. Retrieved December 20, 2011. Maron, Barbara (Spring 2011). Herron, Keith; Lech, Steve (eds.). "Cabot Yerxa". The Riverside County Chronicles (4). Riverside County Historical Association; Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District: 23–25. Pojawa, Jane, What's Up on Miracle Hill (index) Schulman, Sandra Hale (February 9, 2009). "Cabot's Pueblo Museum a real hot spot". News from Indian Country. 23 (3). Indian Country Communications: 1. ISSN 1548-4939. Toth, Peter Wolf (1983). Indian Giver. Cable, WI: Tribal Press. p. 216. ISBN 0960704426. OCLC 12664657. LCC NB237.T635 A4 1983 Wampler, Jan (1978). All Their Own: People and the Places They Build (reissue ed.). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 122–129. ISBN 978-0195200287. OCLC 2346974. LCC TH4812 .W35 1978 Yerxa, Cabot Abram (September 2011). "Miracle in the Sand: The words of a pioneer reveal a love for land that demanded respect, patience – and fortitude". Palm Springs Life. Palm Springs, CA: Desert Publications, Inc. Retrieved December 20, 2011. External links Cabot's Pueblo Museum website Balboa Arts Conservation Center, about DHS Historical Society, "The History of Desert Hot Springs" Huell Howser Productions, Palm Springs Series, Show 17, Huell Howser's PBS California's Gold 2002 visit to Cabot's Adobe (available as a VHS videorecodging – OCLC 47724845) Also available at: Howser, Huell (September 26, 2002). "Cabot's Adobe – Palm Springs Week (17)". California's Gold. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive. Pojawa, Jane (June 4, 2008), "Cabot Yerxa: True Confessions of a Research Addict" retrieved November 8, 2011