Big Springs Nebraska 69122

Big Springs is a village in Deuel County, Nebraska, whose site was originally known as "Lone Tree," named for a prominent solitary cottonwood that served as a landmark for Pony Express riders and Oregon Trail travelers alike. The Union Pacific Railroad renamed the stop "Big Springs" in 1867, after the nearby stream, and the townsite was formally platted in 1884, though incorporation as a village didn't come until 1917. Big Springs has a notably colorful frontier history: following an 1877 Union Pacific train robbery, outlaw Sam Bass's gang allegedly divided roughly $60,000 in stolen loot beneath the old Lone Tree. Decades later, in 1965, the village was the site of a violent robbery at the Farmers State Bank in which Duane Earl Pope killed three people. The Deuel County fair was held in Big Springs from 1889 to 1932. Today the village sits near where Interstate 76 meets Interstate 80, and US Route 30 (the old Lincoln Highway) crosses US Route 138 about three miles north of town. With a population of 394 (2020 census), Big Springs remains one of Deuel County's two incorporated communities.

Big Springs began as "Lone Tree," a Pony Express and Oregon Trail landmark, before the railroad renamed it in 1867 and it was platted in 1884. Sam Bass's gang reportedly split stolen loot there in 1877, and a 1965 bank robbery turned deadly. It sits near the Interstate 76/80 interchange. Population was 394 in 2020.