In the 1950s, Cabot A. Yerxa published 280 newspaper columns describing his struggles and joys as a Desert Hot Springs-area homesteader from 1913 to 1918, his discovery of the "miraculous" hot water aquifer, his observations of desert life, and his friendships with Hollywood celebrities at the nearby B-bar-H Ranch in the 1930s and 40s. This book offers generous selections from those columns, plus a chronology of Cabot's early years, an interview covering his trips to the Alaska Gold Rush, a glimpse into his later life as proprietor of Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo Museum, and an obituary published after his death in 1965. Over 50 family photos evoke the early days in Alaska, Cuba, and the Southern California desert.