Cabot Pueblo Museum

One of the first white settlers in the Coachella Valley was Cabot Yerxa.  His first name is his mother's maiden name - yes, those Cabots.  His family founded the Yerxa Mercantile stores, and at age 15 Cabot managed one of them, with 20 employees reporting to him.  Following some adventures in Nome, Cabot paid $10 for a 160-acre homestead in the Mohave desert.  For a year, he walked 7 miles every 3 days to Palm Springs, an Indian village, to get water and carry it back to his homestead.  One day his Cahuilla friend asked him why he didn't use the abandoned well at the old Indian village, on the hill near his house.

That well was too alkaline, but Cabot started witching and digging for water, and discovered Desert Hot Springs.  And a cold water aquifer close by it, which is now the source of the award-winning city water in DHS.  Because the hill had both hot and cold water, he named it Miracle Hill.  That was 1913, and in 1917 he joined the Army to fight in WWI.

In 1941 he returned to his old homestead and began building the Pueblo, using materials found in the desert or scavenged from abandoned structures nearby.  It eventually expanded to 35 rooms and 5000 square feet.

He made it a museum and artist colony.  One of his Cahuilla friends made him a sculpture

called two-faced white man.

On the property is a 43-foot tall sculpture of Waokiye, the "traditional helper" of the Lakota, and part of the Trail of the Whispering Giants.

There are 74 whispering giants, at least one in each state.  Sounds like the next quest, after I finish playing the top 100 golf courses.

More pictures.