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“From every station they come. Since the provisions of the act reduce financial state to a minimum of importance, even a person of average means can have his winter home, which usually he elects to build himself. Many are the hours from his weekends and vacations he spend breaking the silence of the desert with sounds of hammer and saw. When the cabin finally is completed, he stands back and views it with a sense of satisfaction that only one who has created can experience. He has invested something much more than a little money. Through his personal efforts, he has invested a little of his heart and soul..”

–Desert Magazine 1953

THE JRHS MAPPING PROJECT is a community created geo-tagged map of the area's existing cabins using the Google Maps API. The goal of the mapping project is to geographically locate and document original jackrabbit homesteading cabins throughout the Morongo Basin region to their original patentee and cadastral location.

CLICK HERE TO LAUNCH THE JRHS CABIN MAP. The map requires the current Flash Player. To download the free player, click here. Please note that pop-windows must be enabled in your browser.

Contributions to this map are welcome. To participate, please submit the following information via email to: cabinmap@jackrabbithomestead.com.

1. An accurate GPS coordinate of the cabin is required. Please submit latitude/longitude in decimal degrees. Example: Latitude 34.135828 N Longitude -115.973707 W
2. Attach one low-resolution color digital photo (under 2 megs please) of the exterior of the cabin. Only exterior images of cabins will be included in the map.
3. Please provide the provenance of your cabin entry. i.e. Do you own the cabin currently? Were you the past owner(s)? Was this your family's cabin? Is it a favorite cabin of yours?

Please note: only cabins currently undocumented will be added to the JRHS cabin map. Please do not submit entries that you see listed. Cabin entries are not automated. It may take a few days or even a week for your entry to appear on the map. If the required data is not complete then your entry will be not be used.

Please do not trespass on private property to obtain photos or GPS data. If a cabin is owned and occupied, only cabin data submitted by current owners will be accepted.

Disclaimer: Kim Stringfellow, the Twentynine Palms Historical Society, and the California Council for the Humanities hold no responsibility whatsoever for any physical injury, loss, claim, liability, or damage of any kind resulting from obtaining JRHS cabin map entry data.

About the mapping process:

The jackrabbit homesteads documented for this project were mapped to their original patents through the collection of GPS waypoints using a Garmin eTrex Vista C. After the waypoints were gathered, they were uploaded into Google Earth and displayed as points within the landsat map. Earth Point, a free third party utility displays the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) with township/range sections, quarter-sections, and so forth onto Google Earth. These points mapped within PLSS were then compared to downloadable master title plats available from a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) online database that displays historic serial patent numbers for each tract or parcel of land. Patentee names and a downloadable copy of the original patent were then accessed through another searchable online BLM database for General Land Office Records available at www.glorecords.blm.gov/.

© Kim Stringfellow 2009. All rights reserved unless otherwise specified.

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