In 1939 Cabot began the construction of a dream. It was his intention to build a monument to the Indian people he so admired. Without modern equipment he began the construction of what he came to call Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo. With only a pick and a shovel he carved the first room out of the hillside. It was little more than a cave to protect him as he continued with the rambling structure, sans blueprints.
Every portion of the overwhelming building incorporated the Indian's philosophy of life. Since the Indians believe that symmetry retains evil spirits, nothing is symmetrical in the Pueblo. Doorways and floors slant, walls are slightly uneven, and the window form a puzzle of multi-shaped glass. The walls, measuring nine to ten feet in some places were designed to ensure warmth in winter and maintain cool temperatures during the summer months.
Cabot combined cement and granite, fortifying the foundation with timbers salvaged from various construction sites throughout the desert, including that of the All American Canal in Indio. He learned to fashion adobe bricks as the Indians did, forming them in boxes and allowed to dry in the sun, but he added on cup of cement to each adobe block.
Cabot was known to raze abandoned homesteader's buildings in order to make use of the nails, lumber, masonry and glass. He went as far away as the Salton Sea and brought back wood used in the construction of the aqueduct. Rarely were new materials purchased. The result of his labor is a 35-room Hopi style Pueblo containing 150 windows, 5,000 square feet and is four stories high. During Cabot's lifetime it incorporated his home, workshop, gallery, museum and trading post. Small narrow indoor staircases join the rooms, although Cabot used the customary Hopi Ladders on the façade of the Pueblo for effect.
The first floor of the pueblo was originally Cabot's trading post and personal living quarters. Although the living room floor is packed earth, he constructed a massive stone fireplace, the only source of heat. A small bedroom cubicle houses a single cot. Adjoining the living room was his "Kiva" room, which contains a table, benches and Indian