Last week’s newsletter excerpted a 1958 newspaper article that Cabot Yerxa wrote about Desert Hot Springs’ early development. He continued by quoting an article from developer L.W. Coffee published in 1947. Though we were unable to uncover the original piece, we found other sources that reinforce what Cabot presents. And so, here is another side of the story (also excerpted/edited) …

For some six and half years (1951-1957), Desert Sentinel published a weekly column by Cabot Yerxa, titled “On the Desert Since 1913.” In 1958, the newspaper gave him space to present in one fell swoop his personal account of Desert Hot Springs’ history. Below is a considerably edited offering for those who missed the original article that approached 4,500 words. About 1910, …

In last week’s newsletter, we featured a 1911 letter that Cabot Yerxa wrote to a former president — Theodore Roosevelt — after hearing a speech Roosevelt gave at a college. Years later, in 1918 and 1919, Cabot served in the Army, where he came in contact with a future president: Dwight Eisenhower. Cabot was a mess sergeant in the tank …

As noted in last week’s newsletter, Cabot Yerxa served as postmaster of Fertilla simultaneously with operating an eponymous store in that town (now merely ruins) from 1919 to 1925. Years earlier (1908-1911), Cabot served as postmaster of Sierra Madre, where his parents owned and operated an orange ranch and store. It was during this time that Cabot traveled to Los …

As has been established, Cabot Yerxa came to our desert in 1913. But he did not live on his homestead uninterrupted. In 1918, after he acquired title to the land, he joined the Army. When the war ended and he was honorably discharged, he opened a store in Fertilla, a few miles north of Blythe. He operated his eponymous store …

Our recent newsletters have profiled some of Cabot Yerxa’s neighbors in the landscape that decades later became Desert Hot Springs. We would be remiss to move on to other topics without paying tribute to a person who lived in Palm Springs but whose friendship and company Cabot regularly enjoyed during his homesteading days: Carl Eytel. With a seemingly infinite capacity …

As recounted in our recent newsletters, a host of hardy individuals embraced the desert’s simple living in the early 20th century. Clearly, in our tech-enabled world, we would find surviving as they did quite complicated. “Simple” refers to a scarcity of material goods and the concept that a luxury comprised something like watching the sun set behind the San Jacinto …

Cabot Pueblo Museum’s book On the Desert Since 1913 collects Cabot Yerxa’s newspaper columns recounting his homesteading days. We can learn from Cabot about the personalities and activities of desert pioneers such as Bob Carr (featured in last week’s newsletter). But, this week, we’re looking at what might lead a former cowboy from South Dakota to homestead in the Southern …

Our past two newsletters have profiled Dutch Frank and Hilda Gray: individuals who, like Cabot Yerxa, homesteaded in Desert Hot Springs. Cabot held his “neighbors” in high regard. But his strongest bond was with Bob Carr, with whom he envisioned a “spa city” based on their discovery of hot springs. The following comes from stitched-together excerpts of Cabot’s “On the …

In last week’s newsletter, we introduced you to one of Cabot Yerxa’s fellow Desert Hot Springs pioneers: a prospector known as Dutch Frank. Again aggregating and editing sections of Cabot’s “On the Desert Since 1913” newspaper columns for this communication, we offer the following profile of an individual who set a shining example not just for her gender, but for …