Desert Hot Springs is famous for natural hot mineral waters that surface throughout the town. Nestled against the Little San Bernardino Mountains and the Joshua Tree National Park boundary, the town grew as numerous spas and resort hotels developed around the natural bubbling springs.
The area which became Desert Hot Springs was homesteaded in the early 20th century, most notably by Cabot A. Yerxa, who spent more than 20 years building his now-famous Indian pueblo. Desert Hot Springs incorporated in 1963 and has a population today of about 33,000.
While the town itself is not as upscale as other desert communities, there are several large resorts in the area, including the Miracle Springs Resort and Spa, the Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel, the Onsen Hotel and Spa, and the upscale Two Bunch Palms, as well as several smaller spa hotels.
No Indigenous groups settled permanently in today’s Desert Hot Springs. Before the 20th century, the only people in the Coachella Valley north of Palm Springs were a band of the Cahuilla who camped in the Garnet area. Today, Desert Hot Springs is the only Coachella Valley city primarily north of Interstate 10, and as such, it is generally the windiest community in the valley.
The first homesteader in Desert Hot Springs was a woman, Hilda Maude Gray, who staked her claim in 1908, five years before Cabot Yerxa. Yerxa, however, became the character most associated with Desert Hot Springs. He was born in 1883 on the Lakota Sioux Reservation, and is said to be the first white child born in the Dakota Territory. His family was friends with William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. A nearby ranch owner was future president Theodore Roosevelt.
At 16, Cabot joined the Alaska gold rush, and opened a stand in Nome, where he made a small fortune selling cigars. He lived with an Inuit family and learned their language. He then moved to California, where he became Postmaster of Sierra Madre. He married his first wife, Mamie, in 1908.
Hearing about homesteading possibilities, he boarded a train heading to the Garnet train station in the Coachella Valley. He headed north across the desert and, for a $10 fee, was able to homestead 160 acres just east of the Two Bunch Palms oasis.
While sleeping on the ground, he built a 10-by-20-foot cabin using castoff remnants of wood. After walking seven miles each way to Garnet to get water three times a week, he was motivated to dig for the necessary resource—and he discovered the hot water aquifer on Miracle Hill.
The name “Miracle” comes from the fact that he found both hot and cold water springs. On one side is a cold water aquifer; the other has a hot water aquifer, due to the Mission Creek branch of the San Andreas Fault bisecting the area. The hot water contains a large variety of minerals, including lithium, and emerges from the ground at 120 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The area’s spas and resorts are supported by the hot water aquifer, while the cold water aquifer provides fresh water to the city and has received awards for its exceptional taste.
With water and a questionable home, he sent for Mamie and his son, Rodney, born in 1914. The primitive living arrangements at the small cabin he called “Eagle’s Nest” prompted Mamie to leave, and they never reconciled.
Yerxa served in World War I, and then returned to California to run a retail store in Moorpark, in Ventura County. There, Cabot met L.W. Coffee, a Los Angeles developer who became intrigued by the hot springs in the desert as described by Cabot. In 1931, Coffee visited the desert and recognized the potential to develop the hot springs commercially.
After staking claims, in 1939, Coffee began laying out the streets and lots in what would be the original Desert Hot Springs cabin sites tract. In 1940, Coffee—now considered the town’s founder—recorded the map and named the town Desert Hot Springs, The official dedication of one square mile, along with the hot mineral water bath house and swimming pool, was officially made July 12, 1941, with 2,000 people in attendance—even though there were fewer than 20 residents at the time. The original town site was centered at the intersection of what is now Palm Drive and Pierson Boulevard.
Also in 1941, Yerxa settled on a new property just north of Miracle Hill and began building a pueblo in homage to the Native Americans. He scavenged from the desert and used old railroad ties, telephone poles, deadwood and driftwood. He built a stone fireplace and mixed adobe bricks from local clay. At the age of 60, he remarried, and his bride, Portia Graham stipulated she would like more modern appliances, so he added a stove and other accruements.
While never completely finished, the Cabot pueblo is an eclectic building. At four stories, the pueblo has 150 windows, no two alike. The same is true of the 65 doors and 35 rooms. Cabot opened his pueblo-style home as a museum in 1954. He died in 1965 at 82, and flags in Desert Hot Springs flags were flown at half-mast.
His structure is now one of the oldest adobe-style buildings in Riverside County. Cabot’s Pueblo Museum was designated a state historical site, and Cabot’s Trading Post and Gallery opened there in February 2008, featuring an array of desert souvenirs and local books. On-site docent-led tours are available.
Desert Hot Springs became a tourist destination thanks to its collection of warm mineral springs, one of the largest in the United States—and one of the few places in the world with both naturally occurring hot and cold mineral springs.
Sources for this article include Cabot Abram Yerxa on the Desert Since 1913 by Cabot Yerxa, edited by Richard E. Brown (Cabot’s Museum Foundation, 2011); Desert Lore of Southern California by Choral Pepper (Sunbelt Publications, 1994); and Celebrities in Hiding by Audrey Moe (Walk Publishing, 2012); as well as pamphlets and the Desert Hot Springs Historical Society.
CV History: Cabot Yerxa Revealed to the World the Trait That Makes Desert Hot Springs one of the World’s Most Unique Geological Places is a story from Coachella Valley Independent, the Coachella Valley’s alternative news source.