of two thousand dollars saved, that the elder Yerxa consented to his son’s adventuresome wishes.
Although Cabot’s young friend and traveling companion returned after a brief visit in Alaska, Cabot remained in Nome where he successfully sold cigars to the miners during the summer months. His affinity for languages became apparent, and his ever-questioning mind probed the culture of the Inuit where he enjoyed the rare hospitality of their homes during the winter season. Cabot collected curios and artifacts while developing a 320-word vocabulary of the Inuit language. Later Cabot said the Smithsonian Institute offered him 50 cents for each word.
During Cabot’s second summer in Alaska, he utilized the business skill his father had taught him, and opened a small grocery store. However, an illness in the family forced him to delay his venture for another year. When he returned, he quickly established a profitable grocery business, taking grocery orders from all over, with the minimum order being $300, to be filled and shipped from his father’s store in Seattle. He was enroute to a reunion of pioneers at Dawson City with his largest order of $3,000 when he met Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt. This meeting grew into a friendship which later brought Cabot an appointment as Postmaster of Sierra Madre, California, a position he served from 1906 to 1913.
In 1903, the elder Yerxa, becoming well established in international business affairs, sold Yerxa General Merchandising, and uprooted the family to make a stake in Cuba. Since the Isle of Pines had not been included in the treaties between the United States and Spain, Fred Yerxa was able to purchase a farmhouse on forty acres. However, the political winds of change allowed the family to live there only until the territory was ceded to Cuba some months later.
The Yerxa's next venture proved to be highly profitable. They built the first tract homes outside Havana, Cuba. After subdividing the land, they paved the streets, piped in water and built several model homes, which the public was invited to inspect as they enjoyed free food, beverages, music and flowers for the ladies. They sold half the lots the first day to friends in the United States.