Big Springs

Big Springs was the first seat of Deuel County, for one day. Cheyenne County voters approved splitting their county in November 1888, the governor set January 15, 1889 to organize Deuel, and that day's election named Big Springs. A special election on February 12 then reported 5,608 votes for Big Springs, 3,288 for Chappell and 292 for Froid; Big Springs officials were accused of adding 1,300 ballots printed in Ogallala, and a judge kept the county offices at Chappell. In 1894 Judge Silas Holcombe ordered a new vote, and on June 23 Chappell won, 437 to 344.

What the plaque says

Big Springs The history of Big Springs, northeast of here, has been closely associated with the Union Pacific Railroad since 1867, when a station was established at that point. A nearby spring, from which the station derived its name, provided an abundant water supply for the railroad's steam locomotives. On the night of September 18, 1877, Nebraska's most famous train robbery occurred at Big Springs. After capturing the station agent and destroying the telegraph, Sam Bass and five companions stopped a Union Pacific express train and escaped with a reported sixty-thousand dollars in gold and currency. No permanent settlement occurred at Big Springs until 1883, and the town- site was platted by the Union Pacific Railroad the following year. One of the first structures in the community was the Phelps Hotel, opened in 1885 by Edwin A. Phelps. Little changed since its construction, the hotel has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Despite drouths and severe winters, settlement of the area continued in the 1880's and 1890's. On May 15, 1917, the village of Big Springs was incorporated by act of the Deuel County Commissioners. Nebraska Department of Roads Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Julesburg — 4.3 mi
  The town that moved four times: a trading post, a stage stop burned in 1865, the wickedest end-of-track town on the Union Pacific, and finally Denver Junction renamed.
• Ash Hollow State Historical Park — 19 mi
  The emigrants' spring below Windlass Hill, six miles from the Blue Water Creek camp where Harney's soldiers killed eighty-six Lakota in 1855, and where their belongings came home in 2025.

More markers nearby

• The Great Platte River Road — steps away
• Julesburg and Fort Sedgwick — steps away
• Colorado — 4.1 mi
• Sam Bass and the Big Springs Robbery — 7.3 mi