{"nrhp_refnum":"99001471","name":"Martinez Canyon Rockhouse","other_names":["Miller, Jack, Cabin","CA-Riv-4176-H"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"BLM, Palm Springs-South Coast Resource Area","address_restricted":false,"city":"North Palm Springs","county":"Riverside County","state":"CA","lat":33.50571028400003,"lon":-116.32601068799994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-12-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-room vernacular miner's and homestead cabin built about 1930 by Jack Miller, about six miles up Martinez Canyon near North Palm Springs, Riverside County, California, on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cabin is one of the best surviving examples of rock cabins built by early 20th century miners and homesteaders in the Colorado Desert. Most such cabins have fallen to earthquakes, instability or vandalism. It was the center of Jack Miller's prospecting, mining and homestead activity.","narrative":"Six miles up Martinez Canyon in Riverside County, California, a small two-room cabin built about 1930 shows how a desert prospector made a home from what was at hand. Jack Miller used it as the base for his prospecting, mining and homestead. The walls are poured cement in thirteen lifts with a high content of local river rock, faced with river stones set in mortar. The flat roof is tongue-and-groove planks covered with tar paper and galvanized tin, and the cabin has two fireplaces and six wooden-framed windows. Nearby are a rock and earth oven, a cement and rock forge, a garden remnant and a mule tether line. Few intact rock cabins survive in the Colorado Desert, since most have fallen to earthquakes, instability or vandalism. The cabin is judged among the finest examples of desert mining and homestead rockhouse construction, and it remains in excellent condition on public land because Miller's homestead filing described land south of the cabin.","period_of_significance":"1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and early 20th Century American Movements/Vernacular","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Described as in overall excellent condition with minimal attention since construction; the setting has changed little.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.237432-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/99001471.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860487","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinez_Canyon_Rockhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q108795563"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/riverside-county/martinez-canyon-rockhouse-99001471/"}