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Original Artwork by Cabot Yerxa

News of Cabot’s Pueblo Museum

What’s UpVol. I, No. 2 March 2008

VALENTINE’S DAY 2008: A MIRACLE ON MIRACLE HILL

by Donald Reed

S now! In Desert Hot Springs! On Valen-tine’s Day! At the

Grand Opening and Rib-bon Cutting of Cabot’s Trading Post & Gallery!

Miracle?!

Michael O’Keefe, host of the event, perhaps called it correctly in his open-ing remarks: “One thing can be said for God and Cabot—They both have a sense of humor!”

Besides the snow flurries was the flurry of activity that morning, as Cabot’s Foundation Board Members and Cabot’s Volunteers prepared for what turned out to be a memorable

event that introduced the upscale Cabot’s Trading Post & Gallery to DHS and the Coachella Valley and bore wit-ness to the resurrection of Cabot’s Pueblo Museum, like the Phoenix of myth, rising to new glory from the ashes of its own past.

The Grand Opening and Ribbon Cut-ting was attended by more than 200 people, who filled the expansive court-yard to capacity. It began with a stirring presentation of arms by the Marine Corps Junior ROTC Cadet Color Guard assigned to Desert Hot Springs High School and a short speech by Michael, during which he recognized everyone who has helped in the restoration of the TP&G—from restoration expert Tom Whitlock, to members of the Board,

docents, and other volunteers. In addi-tion, he singled out Board members Muffi Mendelson, Chair of the TP&G Operating Committee, and Donnalda Smollens, Board Secretary, as well as DHS Chamber of Commerce CEO and President, Carole Farm and Vera Gilles, respectively.

Next were comments by DHS mayor Yvonne Parks and City Council mem-bers, Karl Baker, Russ Betts, Scott Matas, and Al Schmidt—who all spoke fondly of the museum’s past and with hope about its future.

Last—and not least—Board of Directors Vice President Bar-bara Maron surprised every-one— and especially Michael—by giving him a much deserved Certificate of Appreciation and Love, signed by Board mem-bers. Then she had another surprise: she called Don Reed from the audience to present Michael with an original oil painting purchased by various Board members and volunteers to give to Michael. This lovely oil, entitled “Cabot’s Contribu-tion,” seen at right, was created by nationally known, award-winning artist Gary Blackwell especially for the Grand Open-ing. Indeed it was Mr. Blackwell who made the comparison of Cabot’s Museum with that glori-ous Phoenix of lore.

Then came the official Rib-bon Cutting, with Michael, Cabot’s Board officers, Mayor Parks, and officers of the Chamber of Commerce partici-pating.

Following the Ribbon Cutting, a deli-cious light lunch was served, the mu-seum was opened to tours, and the packed TP&G was officially “Open for

Business” for the first time!

Yes, the day began with the “miracle” of snow. But it ended with what seemed to be a miracle of joy and love and hope for the future of Cabot’s Pueblo Museum and the New Trading Post & Gallery.

Cabot’s Contribution Original Oil Painting by Gary Blackwell

“One thing can be said for

God and Cabot—They both

have a sense of humor!”

Photos of the Event—See Page 3

page 2

GREENER THAN GREEN

by Barbara Maron

G reen is in! The color has achieved status in our current lexicon and will

probably define a generation. What does this have to do with the Cabot Museum you may ask? Everything is the answer. Cabot Yerxa was a conservationist as well as a preservationist. I have read many of Cabot’s weekly Desert Sentinel articles, from the 1950s and was sur-prised to find repeated instruction on preservation of natural resources. Tour-ing the Pueblo, one can easily see what a 1974 article about Cabot that appeared in the New York Times observed: “Everything is made from recycled or handmade materials.”

It is what is not clearly visible that is astounding. A “green eye” will notice that the Pueblo was built with a “silo effect.” The 140 windows, 65 doors, 35 rooms and narrow doors and stairwells provided maximum air flow that circu-lated hot air to the top floors. Opening and shutting these windows and doors maintained coolness in the summer and heat in the winter.

Cabot dug the Pueblo into the side of a hill; some floors on the second level

are even partially under-ground. The temperature of the Pueblo on a swelter-ing desert day is remarka-bly pleasant.

The cleverest “greening” of Cabot’s Pueblo, to me,

is Portia’s patio on the second floor. I have cleaned this patio many times and wondered why it was unlike other patios in the Pueblo— very smooth and slanted. It is so well dug into the hillside that Cabot built a staircase to get out of it. One day I was taking a group of men through the Museum and we were standing on the Patio and I got my answer. These three men ar-gued and discussed at length what we were standing in.

The consensus was that the wall to the back of the patio had pipes running to it (still visible) from Cabot’s water well, located a distance above the patio. These pipes dripped water down the sides of a “wetting wall” that ran

over the slanted patio floor to a large drain at the top of the stairs. A soaking of cool water over concrete must have made this area very cool. This cool water would then run under a flight of

stairs three stories high, helping to cool the rooms that it ran under, and exit out into the garden, at street level.

Oh, imagine a world today built with the foresight and ingenuity that Cabot Yerxa used more than 65 years ago!

Publishing Graphic Design

Logos

DONALD REED Owner

39421 Bel Air Drive Cathedral City, California 92234

760-770-6562 donaldreed@dc.rr.com

What’s Up on Miracle Hill

PRESIDENT=S CORNER

CABOT YERXA AND

THE RENAISSANCE OF

DESERT HOT SPRINGS

by Michael O’Keefe

D esert Hot Springs has always had world-

famous, award-winning municipal water and the curative mineral waters that make our spas known throughout the world. We have magnifi-

cent views and spectacular weather.

In 2008 the city is also experiencing a renaissance. Politically, culturally, and economically, Desert Hot Springs has great hopes. The recent municipal elections demonstrated that the citi-zenry wants change—no more busi-ness as usual. Despite the downturn in housing, the city has many exciting developments in the works. And, cultur-ally—yes, culture in Desert Hot Springs—the future is bright. And it begins with a man who died 43 years

ago—Cabot Yerxa.

Cabot Yerxa was one of the area’s earliest pioneers, arriving in the desert in 1913. He homesteaded 160 acres, discovered the hot and cold waters of the area, naming it Miracle Hill. A painter and visionary, Cabot built his greatest work of art, his 5000-square-foot, 35-room, Hopi-style adobe pueblo. Beginning in 1939, he built it by hand, mostly by himself, and he never stopped building until his death at age 81 in 1965.

After his death, the pueblo fell into disrepair and was almost destroyed. Cole Eyraud, a friend of Cabot’s, bought the structure and revitalized it until his death in 1996. Cole’s daugh-ter, Trudi, donated the estate and its priceless art and artifacts to the City of Desert Hot Springs in 1998. Now, 10 years later, Cabot’s Museum Founda-tion is proud to announce the grand opening of Cabot’s Trading Post & Gal-lery located in a fully restored building that Cabot used as a garage and bed-room while he constructed his master-piece, the pueblo.

The TP&G is unique, just as the mu-seum is. The gallery has attracted na-tional and local artists. Painters, sculp-tors, crafts persons, graphic artists, tile designers, jewelry designers, local au-thors, and musicians have all signed on for special events. We locals knew there was great talent in Desert Hot Springs, but many people in the Coa-chella Valley will be surprised when they visit the cultural and historic hub of Desert Hot Springs, Cabot’s Pueblo Museum and Cabot’s Trading Post & Gallery. There is new life in the old pueblo, and, yes, there is culture north of Interstate 10.

When Huell Howser filmed a seg-ment of California’s Gold about Cabot’s Pueblo Museum, he stated it was his favorite historic site in Califor-nia. Who are we to argue with Huell? He knows, as the locals know, there is something special about Desert Hot Springs. Soon, the rest of the valley will know the city is a treasure in the Coa-chella Valley.

Somewhere, Cabot must be smiling.

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page 4

COMING IN APRIL—

News about Cabot’s Annual Birthday

Bash and 30th Birthday Celebration of our Waokiye Sculpture by Peter Toth

More on Cabot & Portia and UFOs

Information about the TP&G and the

Pueblo and its surroundings

SPECIAL THANKS

S pecial thanks go to Lopez Land-scaping and Jeffery Abbott, our

local wood artist, for their hard work beautifying the grounds on February 4th, Clean Up Day. Board member Susan Rubini contributed the crew for the day!

INTERPLANETARY

SPACECRAFT VISIT

DESERT HOT SPRINGS

by Jane Pojawa

(Editor’s Note: This is the first in a four-part series about Flying Saucers and their relationship to Cabot and Portia Yerxa and Desert Hot Springs.)

L et’s take a flying sau-cer back in time to

1950. Desert Hot Springs, indeed the whole Mojave Desert, was buzzing with a sudden rush of aliens. These fellows—and

nearly all of them were male—bore more of a resemblance to Orlando Bloom than to P’lod, the “Grey” alien made famous by the Weekly World News; and they came with a message of world peace and a warning to hu-manity to stop its evil ways.

The modern experience of Unidenti-fied Flying Objects [UFOs] began on June 24, 1947, when a Central Air Ser-vice pilot named Kenneth Arnold spot-ted nine mysterious, high-speed ob-jects flying along the crest of the Cas-cade Range near Mount Rainier. He described aircraft that by today’s stan-dards look very much like a stealth bomber or flying wing, and he believed

that they were experimental aircraft. Soon it was not only aircraft or lights in the sky that were being documented; it was personal experiences with the in-

habitants of the aircraft, generally con-tacted psychically.

The Desert Sentinel thoroughly documented the invasion. Jean Shan-non, the “Feminine Reflections” colum-nist, spotted the onslaught on July 15, 1949, when she wrote about an article in the obscure new age journal Fate, one of the first to write extensively on the Arnold story. This was followed by another article, which claimed that a reclusive Native American tribe, the Hav-musuv, developed aircraft and lived in peaceful seclusion in caves in the Panamint mountain range in Death Valley. She apparently accepted the accounts as factual, for UFOs and their peaceful message became a recurring theme in her columns. These would portend big changes ahead for Desert Hot Springs in general and for Cabot and Portia Yerxa specifically.

The September 1949 issue of Fate, seen in the photograph above, featured an article entitled “Tribal Memories of the Flying Saucers,” by Oga-Make, allegedly a Navajo Indian recounting a legend told to him by a Piute shaman. Unfortunately, the story was a fabrica-tion.

(Next month: Cabot and Portia get involved in the movement.)

What’s Up on Miracle Hill

Now You Can Advertise in

Original Artwork by Cabot Yerxa

News of Cabot’s Pueblo Museum

What’s UpVol. I, No. 2 March 2008

Help Out

Cabot’s Pueblo

Museum

and

Our New

Trading Post & Gallery!

Call for Our

Exceptional Rates:

Don Reed

760-770-6562

What’s Up on Miracle Hill

Newsletter Staff

Donald Reed ................................. Editor Bent Reed Press ...................... Publisher Barbara Maron .................... Contributor Michael O’Keefe ................... Contributor Jane Pojawa ......................... Contributor Donald Reed .................... Photographer

Cabot’s Pueblo Museum

Board of Directors

Michael O’Keefe ...................... President Barbara Maron ............... Vice-President Linda Blake ......... Chief Financial Officer Donnalda Smolens .................. Secretary Robert Brasier ........................... Director John Brown ............................... Director Judy Gigante ............................. Director Mary Hutchinson ....................... Director Wes Laws ................................... Director Penny Mathewson ..................... Director Muffi Mendelson ....................... Director Jane Pojawa .............................. Director Donald Reed ............................. Director Susan Rubini ............................. Director Donn Sholty ............................... Director Dan Spencer .............................. Director Joanna Stark ............................. Director

Cabot’s Pueblo Museum

67616 East Desert View Avenue Mailing Address: P.O. Box 104

Desert Hot Springs, California 92240 760-329-7610

www.cabotsmuseum.org Tours:

Weekends, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m., and by appointment

Cabot’s Trading Post &

Gallery

760-329-7610 Hours:

Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Fate, September 1949—UFOs emerge in public consciousness