DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Pat Higgins Grass Farms, out in Wilson County. Now, most Texas legends start with oil. This one starts with oil — and then takes a hard left turn into grass.
Which sounds a whole lot less dramatic, until you hear what happened next. Pattillo Higgins, who went by Pat, was born in 1910 in Houston. His father was Pattillo Higgins, Sr. — known as Bud — and his mother was Annie Jahn Higgins.
Bud was a man with property and ambition: he owned oil holdings in Chambers and Bexar Counties, and in 1925 he began buying land in Sutherland Springs. Pat took some time at the University of Texas, then went and joined his dad out on the Higgins Oil Leases. Like father, like son — Pat started drilling in Sutherland Springs, chasing that same black gold.
But by 1937, the oil wasn't cooperating. So Pat made a decision that would change things considerably. He purchased land and turned his attention to ranching, and — here's where it gets interesting — he started experimenting with forage grasses.
Now, experimenting sounds neat and tidy. What it actually meant was years of hard going. In 1941, Pat consulted with the Wilson County Soil Conservation District and worked hard to grow grasses.
The result? Failure. He kept at it.
More failure. Six years of it, by the marker's own count. Then 1949 arrived, and something shifted.
Pat and the Soil Conservation District figured out how to compact the soil, and finally — finally — they were successful. You'd think that would be the triumph, right? Except that by late August of that same year, 1949, every single grass they'd planted was dead.
Every last row. Except one. One row of buffelgrass.
Word began to spread. And when word spreads in Texas, it spreads wide. Over the next eleven years, more than twelve thousand visitors were registered at the farm.
Twelve thousand people coming to look at grass. Pat had to build a small runway just to accommodate the planes coming in — from Hawaii, from France, from Africa, from Australia. The world, it turned out, wanted to know about buffelgrass.
Pat wasn't just growing one grass, either. By 1958, he had fifty varieties and strains under observation. Native grasses were put into commercial production.
To harvest the seeds, Pat employed around two hundred men and women working by hand — until he went ahead and invented a mechanical harvester he called the bug catcher. In 1957, Higgins earned the soil conservation award for irrigation water management. And then, before his death in 1961, Pat made one final discovery.
He found the parent plant to buffelgrass itself, named it Higgins buffelgrass, and documented that it produced higher yields and was more persistent than what had come before. Buffelgrass went on to become a mainstay on the famous King Ranch in Texas and the Parker Ranch in Hawaii. The man who came to Sutherland Springs chasing oil, who spent six years failing at grass before one stubborn row refused to die — that man became known as the Grass King of the Southwest.
Sometimes the last thing standing is the one worth building your whole story around.
What the marker says
Pattillo “Pat” Higgins was born in 1910 in Houston to Pattillo “bud” Higgins, sr. And Annie Jahn Higgins. Bud owned oil properties in Chambers and Bexar Counties and, in 1925, began to purchase land in Sutherland Springs. After a short time at the University of Texas, Pat joined his dad on the Higgins Oil Leases. Continuing his father’s quest for oil, Pat began to drill in Sutherland Springs but, by 1937, he decided to try ranching instead. He purchased land and began to experiment with new forage grasses. In 1941, he consulted with the Wilson County Soil Conservation (C.S.C.) District and worked hard to grow grasses but was unsuccessful. Following six years of failure, in 1949, Pat and the C.S.C. learned to compact the soil and were finally successful. By late August 1949, all the grasses were dead except for one row of buffelgrass. Word began to spread about buffelgrass and, in the next eleven years, over 12,000 visitors were registered at the farm. Pat built a small runway for planes to accommodate visitors from Hawaii, France, Africa and Australia. A variety of native grasses were put into commercial production. Pat employed around 200 men and women to harvest grass seeds by hand prior to inventing a mechanical harvester he named the “bug catcher.” In 1957, Higgins earned the soil conservation award for irrigation water management. By 1958, Pat had 50 varieties and strains under observation. Before his death in 1961, Pat discovered the parent plant to buffelgrass and named it Higgins buffelgrass which produced higher yields and was more persistent. Buffelgrass became a mainstay on the famous King Ranch in Texas and the Parker Ranch in Hawaii. Higgins became known as the “Grass King of the Southwest.”