Cabot's Pueblo Museum

From Cabot's journals, letters, and newspaper articles, we learn about his life and the lives of people he encountered. He also dabbled in creative writing: poetry, short story, play. The text below, which comes from a typewritten page headed Scene one, Act three of four-set play, speaks volumes about the way Cabot viewed relationships. "... a better understanding of each other’s viewpoints to better visualize the future, ...then there can be great peace." Read his play to learn more about his observations.

It's Giving Tuesday! Cabot's Pueblo Museum is an artistic environment celebrating the creative spirit. Cabot dared to dream big and believed deeply in giving back to the community. Be part of Cabot Yerxa's legacy--to be curious, see possibilities, and create opportunities. Your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. And on GivingTuesday, Facebook will match a total of $7 million in donations first come, first served. Thank you for your support.

Tonight, Monday, November 30th at 6pm PST, Jeff Bowman, Board Vice President, will lead a virtual "water tasting" event! This is a fundraiser for Cabot's Pueblo Museum. You still have time to donate $5 and watch and be part of this event. How is Jeff going to do a tasting "virtually?" What is the history of Desert Hot Springs and its award-winning mineral water, both hot and cold? We'll all have fun as we talk about water. So join us virtually by clicking on the link and purchasing your ticket: https://tickets.cabotsmuseum.org/e/water-tasting-nov30-talk

To purchase tickets, click on the link. https://www.cabotsmuseum.org/virtual-tours/

The Desert as Teacher In the excerpt below, we get an impression of him and the desert not only through his words but also through the eyes of a visiting writer named Belle Ewing. Below are excerpts from the aptly titled Adventure’s Son, published in the November-December 1947 issue of the National Automobile Club’s National Motorist magazine. "Pioneering is never easy, Cabot said. At that time, there were but 10 homesteaders in the whole section. We had to carry our gro...ceries to relays. Our nearest store was at Palm Springs, 15 miles away. I would carry part of my grub slung in a sack over my shoulder for half a mile, drop it, and return for another load. This I kept up the long, weary miles through sand, greasewood, and mesquite. Water, too, had to be carried. Some of the homesteaders made Chinese yokes from which two buckets were suspended. Believe me, we saved every drop of wastewater, giving it to the desert trees we had planted around our shacks. Inside the lookout were benches and homemade chairs, placed so the visitor may look down across the desert to where Palm Springs sleeps in the sun. The mountains were cobalt blue, with wine in the canyons. An ash-throated flycatcher flashed through the air to a palo verde that was beginning to unfold its petals of gold. There, Cabot said, pointing to a misty canyon in the rocky side of San Jacinto, see the angel with her wings outstretched? But if the Angel of San Jacinto lies sleeping, Cabot certainly does not. He has purchased land bordering his original homestead until now he has nearly 400 acres. With his own hands and his burro for a helper, he has transformed his holdings into a home and a business. Besides his home, he has a trading post, art gallery, museum, and a snake pit. The desert, Cabot declared, teaches people to be resourceful, to overcome difficulties. At times it is a hard taskmaster, but the ones who stick it out are repaid a hundred times over. There is camaraderie among desert folks seldom found elsewhere. We have many jolly times together." He looked out over his land. I love it here. I hope never to leave. The sun cast fingers of gold over rough cinnamon hills as I left. The Angel of San Jacinto’s rocky bosom was garbed in violet mist, and San Jacinto was turned into a pot of gold gold that is free for the taking.

Enjoy today spending time together. Cabot Yerxa appreciated the desert and enjoyed sharing it with his family.

Excerpt from Cabot's journal where he turned introspective, as would most likely any other traveler after a stretch of eight months at sea and immersed in foreign cultures. "Soon I will land in U.S.A. again. One of the lasting impressions is that of being part of the life of the land where I may be for the time being. In Europe, I seemed to belong to life there; and to recall details of the U.S. was an effort. Now Europe is commencing to get more dim in memory. Just like day ...and night: Day is the fading of night or night is the fading of the day. Which is real? You see flags waving everywhere you go, but the one that makes you puff out your chest is the Stars and Stripes. Even though I shout for America and its people, also I can see that all people are alike and only differ because conditions, food, climate, etc., differ. In France you can see their point of view, in England theirs, and so on. What is more to the point, you can see the failings of the U.S.A. too."

Excerpt from Cabot's journal: This London traffic has to be seen to be believed. Perhaps New York has as much, but N.Y. meets at right angles and goes by turns. Over here, streets do not come together at right angles. They always try to avoid that. The street designers and city planners of London try to bring as many streets into an opening as possible. This they call a circus Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, etc. And it is a circus. Streams of traffic going both ways enter a circus. Traffic is composed of autos all kinds: bicycles, buses, men with pushcarts, men with bundles on the head, donkey carts, burro carts, horse drays, fine carriages and horses, college boys in running pants.

The first bathhouse in Desert Hot Springs built by L. W. Coffee. and a commemorate brochure of the 10th anniversary of the bathhouse.

We remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

Sunset views from Desert Hot Springs.

Desert Hot Springs ca 1913

Cabot Yerxa traveled in 1925 from California to Europe via a steamer ship. After initial stops in the Panama Canal, he reached the United Kingdom. The following edited excerpts from his journal pick up the story in Ireland the land of shamrocks, leprechauns, Celtic music, and pubs. Particularly in these days where we feel the stresses of a global pandemic, we might take heart in the resilience not only of the pioneering Cabot Yerxa, but also of the people he encountered in ...his travels. May you also find comfort and joy in small things. Went out to Dalkey, a small old town on the seacoast, then walked for several miles to castle grounds of Killiney, built in 1748 by rich man to give employment to starving Irish of Dublin. They built miles of roads and high stone fences around a big, hilly promontory jutting out in the sea. The view from the very top is rated as one of the finest in Ireland and was well worth the climb. I had tea and egg and jam in a small, round defense tower. Cooking was done over a fire in the stone wall. "Good thing I came over here still young, because I had to walk several miles to get a train back to Dublin. Sightseeing is a chance to walk miles every day. The whole country is divided by stone fences into small fields of one to three acres of different shapes. Every stone cottage has its field of potatoes. Over here in Ireland, if it is not actually raining they say, It’s a splendid day, and it is a fine summer we are havin’. I asked one Irishman if the sun didn’t ever shine over here. Well, yes, he said, it did last year. I think it was on a Wednesday. Walked back from the depot through slums to my home, and I cannot understand how people live to laugh and be happy in such surroundings. At nine a.m. Sunday, June 28, 1925, left Dublin for Belfast, Ireland. My first experience with the side-door trains. Once an hour they stopped the train so people could drink a cup of tea. Never see coffee over here. The trip was through rolling green country past small villages and a few small cities. All bridges are of stone, track laid in stone, farmhouses of stone. In three hours did not see any wooden building, and only two autos. People, walk, ride bicycles or these Irish pony carts of two or three different styles. "

Earrings and bracelets made by reusing bottlecaps, metal, and aluminum cans. DM for prices.

Celebrate Earth Day's 50th Anniversary! Discover the beauty we share in the Coachella Valley. Everything we are, we owe to Mother Earth and her resources. Today celebrate Earth Day by noticing and appreciating the beauty of the outdoors.

These days may seem to run together without our usual external contexts. Is today Monday or Tuesday? Well, while we do not suggest you follow Cabot Yerxa’s method for keep track of the week, we think you might find it amusing. The text below is excerpted from his weekly On the Desert Since 1913 column, published by the Desert Sentinel newspaper Aug. 30, 1951. Living without neighbors and no phones or newspapers, it is quite impossible to keep track of the days of the week. So if it was important for me to go to the R.R. or P.O. or to work somewhere on a certain day, I would build a fire outdoors, for instance on Monday. Then each morning I built a fire in a new spot, and so on until the designated day arrived. I was sure of it because I went back to my Monday fire and counted the days each represented by the ashes of a fire.

Cabot's Pueblo Museum featured in California's Gold with Huell Howser. https://bit.ly/2UHfY5X