Santa Barbara County Biographies

P. C. HIGGINS

Submitted by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


P. C. HIGGINS, a rancher of Carpenteria Valley, was born in Galesburg, Illinois, 
in 1843. His father had large farm interests in the locality of Galesburg and 
much city property. His father and mother are still living, each at the age of seventy live 
years, and they are looking forward to their golden wedding in April, 1891. P. C. Higgins 
was married at Galesburg in 1864, to Miss Mary Jenks, and they then moved to 
Altona, Knox County, Illinois, to take charge of one of his father's farms. In 1867 they 
moved to Forest, Livingston County, where Mr. Higgins bought 160 acres of land, and 
carried on general farming for thirteen years, dealing largely in hogs, which he fattened 
for market. In 1880 they sold out and moved to Prairie City, Iowa, where he 
engaged in the hardware business, and remained three years. Through an unsatis- 
factory partner they made no progress, and in 1883 Mr. Higgins sold out and came to 
Carpenteria Valley, where he bought 108 acres of cleared land, all under cultivation. 
His main crop is Lima beans, the leading industry of the valley, of which he plants 
about ninety acres, with an average yield of from 1,500 to 2,000 pounds per acre. Mr. 
Higgins has a bituminous rock bed on his place, bordering on the sea, which, after careful 
examination is found to cover several acres in area, at an average depth of sixteen 
feet. They have taken out about 5,000 tons, which was used in the paving of State street 
in Santa Barbara. In boring for artesian water he struck natural gas, at a depth of 
500 feet, although not in paying quantities: still by storing it was found to burn very 
rapidly. He raises, lemons and other fruits, but only for home use. Mr. and Mrs. Hig- 
gins have six children, all living. 

History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California  - by 
C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II.  -Lewis Publ. Co., 
Chicago, 1917.