Charles Chapin ("Charley") Higgins was born in Newfield, New York in 1863, grew up in Missouri where he learned the printer's trade. He turned to publishing newspapers in 1883 and became editor of newspapers in Colorado and then in Missouri before moving to Utah, continuing his newspaper work there and marrying Blanche Brelsford. After purchasing a mine in Oregon, he came to southern Nevada in 1904 and settled in Goldfield. In 1906, his prospecting assisted with the discovery of the Wonder Mining District in Churchill County, Nevada. Higgins continued his active mining work until 1924, when he became the mining editor of Nevada's Reno Gazette Journal newspaper, a position he held for nineteen years. Some of the mining stories Higgins heard or incidents he saw were published in the Gazette with credit to "Old Bill," supposedly an old, impoverished prospector. With his personal knowledge and stories, he was an authority about Nevada's early mining history, assisting writers such as Carl Glasscock with their research.
From the description of Charley Higgins story, 1936. (University of Nevada, Reno). WorldCat record id: 174571099
