Mud Springs Station was a station on the Pony Express Route in 1860 and 1861, a station on the First Transcontinental Telegraph Line, and a stop on the Overland Stage Route. A battle between Sioux Indians and U.S. troops took place here on February 6-7, 1865. The site was given to the State of Nebraska by Mrs. Etta A. Scherer and her children to be preserved as a memorial to all early pioneers who won the West.