Twenty years ago this month, Cole Eyraud reopened Cabot’s Pueblo Museum after the death of its creator. But for Eyraud, the local treasure on Miracle Hill would be history, with a lowercase “h.” The story of how he preserved it is History with a capital “h.” The following summarizes Eyraud’s story told in the new book The Man Who Saved a Legacy: How Colbert Henry Eyraud Preserved Cabot’s Pueblo Museum, available at the museum and on Amazon.
By the time of his death on March 5, 1965, Desert Hot Springs homesteader Cabot Yerxa had hand-built a 35-room pueblo with 150 windows, 65 doors, and 30 rooflines. He and his wife, Portia, used it as their residence and promoted it as a museum with Native American artifacts, items he collected during his travels, and displays on desert flora and fauna.
Newspapers and magazines frequently referred to the pueblo as a “castle.” But without its gregarious owner/host, the public attraction faced a precarious future. The Jan. 26, 1967, edition of Desert Sentinel newspaper sounded the alarm in “Familiar Landmark Here Stands Deserted, Alone.”
With the dramatic license allowed a local newspaper of the day, the article declared that the structure “has been bashed in by rock-throwing kids and is being barked at by wild coyotes.”
A year and a half later, Jean Ann Hirschi, the lawyer appointed as conservator for Portia Yerxa, wrote to Desert Hot Springs’ city manager, William D. Williams, informing him that the property was for sale and she understood the city might wish to purchase it for a museum. He replied that “no intent has ever been expressed nor is the City in a position to consider the matter.” He added, “Our latest concern is the ‘hangout’ situation for our ‘migratory’ young people we have in this modern day, hippies.”
The city’s building department regarded demolition to be “the logical recommendation” given the structure’s incompliance with current codes. The city council gave local organizations until Jan. 1, 1968, to come up with a plan for saving it and passed a motion declaring “the unique structure to be an historical site until the January date.”
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY CABOT'S PUEBLO MUSEUM
Cabot Yerxa welcomed the public to the “museum” he built by hand in a tribute to Native American aesthetics.
But on Dec. 5, Desert Sentinel announced that five men from Burbank and Saugus had bought the pueblo.
“We’ve been watching a lot of wonderful old places go down the drain in this speedy world of ours,” one of those individuals, Colbert (Cole) Eyraud, told a Los Angeles Times reporter. “When we saw the story about plans to tear down the late Cabot Yerxa’s castle in the Los Angeles Times on Nov. 30, we decided it was time to act.”
Eyraud explained that he and his friends formed a corporation “to renovate the castle, make sure it is structurally sound, then fulfill Yerxa’s dream and open the building to the public as an Indian museum.”
As president of Landmark Conservators, Eyraud wasted no time in boosting Cabot Yerxa’s legacy. Even before he secured the property, he petitioned Desert Hot Springs’ city council to classify the pueblo as a historical monument. The council at least deferred condemnation proceedings based on his assurances the structure would be brought up to safety codes.
On April 1, 1969, only three days after executing the deed of trust, Portia Yerxa died. Three months later, on Independence Day, the public enjoyed opening festivities at the pueblo.
High Hopes
Eyraud continually dreamed of enhancements and expansion. In mid-December of 1970, The Daily Enterprise announced that his mother had purchased and donated to the pueblo a burro that resembled Cabot Yerxa’s constant companion, Merry Xmas: “At the moment, Merry Christmas [sic] the Second and her stable mates, a couple of Shetland ponies, are proving to be popular tourist attractions, particularly with the youngsters,” the paper reported. “But Eyraud has other plans. He hopes to make the burro the nucleus of a zoo.” Over time, Cole populated the property with burros, tortoises, snakes, and even a coatimundi.
In April 1971, The Desert Sun newspaper described Eyraud’s next ambitious project for the property: A 49-unit motel called The Pueblo Inn that would be “the most Indianish fun and health resort in the desert.”
Eyraud apparently was unable to secure investors to bring the inn to fruition but turned his attention to plans for an art center at the museum. “It’s just what Yerxa would have wanted,” he told The Daily Enterprise, recognizing the homesteader’s interest in sketching and painting and his study in Paris. When Pueblo Art Center opened for its second season in 1973, local artists were invited to register to have their work displayed in the gallery with paintings from Germany through a cultural art exchange.
Eyraud remained committed to the status of Cabot Yerxa’s creation as a historical treasure. In 1974, he received an Award of Merit for preservation from the Conference of California Historical Societies. He took his responsibilities as a museum curator seriously. In 1979, he attended UCLA Extension workshops in museum grant writing, introduction to artifact conservation, and safeguarding museum collections.
What Eyraud wanted more than personal recognition was something he first sought in 1969: designation by Desert Hot Springs pertaining to the historical value of what Cabot Yerxa had built. Finally, a resolution dated Feb. 1, 1977, declared the pueblo to be an “official landmark of the city.” And in April of 1981, the museum hosted a dedication program for County of Riverside Historical Marker No. 054.
Less than a year later, Eyraud made his most visible addition to the property: an Indian-head monument rising more than 40 feet from the ground. Peter Toth carved it on-site as the 27th such sculpture in his Trail of the Whispering Giants series. Measuring 22 feet in height and 8 feet in diameter, the face was carved out of a log from a Sequoia National Forest 200-foot redwood that had been struck by lightning in the 1950s. The feather jutting up from the Indian’s headband was carved from an incense cedar acquired in Idyllwild. Eyraud, with help from volunteers, built a concrete pedestal and physically participated in the monument’s installation.
Citizen Cole
Like the man whose legacy he worked to sustain, Eyraud championed Desert Hot Springs. His civic mindedness came to light when he set in motion plans for reorganizing Desert Hot Springs Historical Society. In the early 1970s, interest in the organization had lapsed. Documents and photographs were held by several people in lieu of a main repository. Eyraud expressed his belief that all items of historical value should be aggregated under an organization responsible for their safekeeping. To guide such efforts, he sponsored a meeting — open to the public at no charge — featuring as speaker an official from the Conference of California Historical Societies.
Eyraud additionally served on boards of directors (often as president) for Desert Hot Springs entities and projects, including the chamber of commerce, architectural advisory commission, low-cost housing, and prospective arthritis treatment center. When he ran for the water district board in 1973, his campaign statement read, “Whether or not we agree on every issue is unimportant; but to be active in your own community affairs is vital to its life and your own.”
“ Maybe one day when I went to visit Cabot, he was looking out a window and saw me coming."
— Cole Eyraud
Running on such a platform failed to garner him a majority vote. But that did not stop him from entering the 1976 city council race. This time he prevailed. When Eyraud entered the 1980 mayoral race, his appeal to voters in the pages of The Desert Sun included this statement:
“I CARE. Many of you care, too, but we must care more. Most of all, we must demonstrate, each of us individually, a pride in our community. The greatest asset to any organization is the spirit of its people, the will to win and the courage to work. If I’m elected mayor, I will continue to work diligently to help Desert Hot Springs realize all of its potential.”
Eyraud came in second but continued to be a presence in the community and in 1982 and 1986 ran for city council, each time winning another four-year term. Among his civic appointments, he served on the board of Desert Hot Springs Tourism Authority until it was dissolved in 1989. Then-Mayor Daniel Been wrote to Eyraud, recognizing the value of having a passionate, albeit sometimes abrasive, citizen involved in community matters.
Running on such a platform failed to garner him a majority vote. But that did not stop him from entering the 1976 city council race. This time he prevailed. When Eyraud entered the 1980 mayoral race, his appeal to voters in the pages of The Desert Sun included this statement:
“I CARE. Many of you care, too, but we must care more. Most of all, we must demonstrate, each of us individually, a pride in our community. The greatest asset to any organization is the spirit of its people, the will to win and the courage to work. If I’m elected mayor, I will continue to work diligently to help Desert Hot Springs realize all of its potential.”
Eyraud came in second but continued to be a presence in the community and in 1982 and 1986 ran for city council, each time winning another four-year term. Among his civic appointments, he served on the board of Desert Hot Springs Tourism Authority until it was dissolved in 1989. Then-Mayor Daniel Been wrote to Eyraud, recognizing the value of having a passionate, albeit sometimes abrasive, citizen involved in community matters.
“Yours has been an eloquent voice for local business, and I hope you will continue to speak out,” Been wrote. “We need and can profit by intelligent dissent and debate. Please stay involved. We need you.”
THOMAS FORGRAVE/ COURTESY CABOT'S PUEBLO MUSEUM
Today, Cabot’s Pueblo Museum is owned by the city of Desert Hot Springs and operated by Cabot’s Museum Foundation. The County of Riverside historical marker, dedicated in 1981, is embedded in a courtyard boulder.
A Standing Tribute
With Eyraud’s death, the property fell to the status of abandonment and the disrepair that entails.
On Sept. 23, 1998, Eyraud’s daughter, Trudine, signed a quitclaim deed transferring title to the property to the city of Desert Hot Springs.
The March 2001 issue of Valley Breeze reported on the Feb. 10 reopening with the fanfare headline of “Cabot’s Old Indian Pueblo Writes a New Chapter in Desert Hot Springs Story.” Amid the lengthy account is this gem:
In 2002, Desert Hot Springs formed Cabot’s Museum Foundation to operate and maintain the pueblo. The city contributes funds to the museum on an annual basis, but the nonprofit under which the museum functions relies on revenue from public tours, cultural/educational programming, event rentals, Trading Post sales, grants, memberships, and donations.
Cabot Yerxa and Cole Eyraud undoubtedly would be especially proud that Cabot’s Pueblo Museum was, in 2012, named to the National Register of Historic Places.
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