Last updated: August 22, 2026
Place
The Narrows and Little Blue Station
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Historical sign and Pony Express marker: Southwest corner of intersection of Maple and Clay streets in Oak, Neb. GPS 40.2366472222, -97.9038305556 Site location is on inaccessible private land along the Little Blue River approximately 2 miles northwest of Oak. Closest public location is intersection of Rd U and Rd 4300, about ½ mile north of the site.
Significance:
Cheyenne warriors attached travelers and road ranches at The Narrows and in this vicinity in 1864.
Designation:
Historic site on the California, Oregon, and Pony Express NHTs.
MANAGED BY:
Town of Oak, Nebraska (signage at Oregon Trail Park); private (sites)
Amenities
8 listed
Benches/Seating, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Picnic Shelter/Pavilion, Picnic Table, Playground, Restroom, Wheelchair Accessible
After years of broken treaties, loss of land and resources, and widespread starvation, several Plains tribes joined forces in 1864 to drive out settlers and shut down the Oregon-California Trail across Nebraska.
Between August 7 and August 9, 1864, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota warriors killed 48 homesteaders and teamsters, wounded 9, and took 7 captives along the trail between present Kiowa, Nebraska, and Julesburg, Colorado. Over 3 days, their coordinated attacks spanned nearly 250 miles, destroying 30 stations and more than 100 “road ranches”—homesteads that served passing travelers. Among the hardest hit areas was a 60-mile stretch along the Little Blue River, including a short section of trail known as The Narrows, nearby Little Blue Station, and several homesteads.
At the Narrows, the overland trail corridor squeezed through a tight passage between the east bank of the Little Blue and encroaching bluffs above the river. With limited avenues of escape, travelers there were vulnerable to attack.
On August 7, 16-year-old Laura Roper, Mrs. Lucinda Eubank, and Lucinda’s children—3-year-old Isabelle and 6-month-old Willie—strolled through The Narrows toward the Roper home following a Sunday afternoon visit at the Eubank cabin. Screams from the Eubank homestead made them look back to witness warriors killing several members of Lucinda’s family. The women quickly hid in the brush along the riverbank, trying to quiet the children, but little Isabelle shrieked in terror as the warriors rode past. The captors quickly seized the group, returned with them to the Eubank cabin, and pillaged the home. There they were joined by another captive, Lucinda’s 7-year-old nephew, Ambrose Asher, who had been taken while returning home with a haying party.
Laura, Isabelle, and Ambrose were released about 5 weeks later, but Isabelle, deeply traumatized, died before being reunited with her mother. Lucinda and baby Willie, traded from band to band during 9 months of captivity, were ransomed to the US Army in May 1865.
On August 9, war parties struck Little Blue Station, which briefly served as a Pony Express station in 1861. Several trains of freight wagons had stopped there for dinner and turned out their oxen to graze. As warriors ran off the livestock and killed 9 men tending the herds, the freighters unloaded several wagons, hitched up some mules, and made their escape. Warriors returned later to pillage the station and cargo from the abandoned wagons.
The Little Blue Station site and The Narrows are on private property northwest of Oak and are not open to visitors. A state historical marker titled “Indian Captives,” commemorating the captives’ ordeal, and a Pony Express monument for Little Blue Station are in Oregon Trail Park near the intersection of Maple and Clay streets in Oak.
For more about the 1864 uprising, visit 1864 Indian Raids (U.S. National Park Service) and Oak Grove Station/Comstock Ranch (U.S. National Park Service).
Site Information
Location (Historical sign and Pony Express marker: Southwest corner of intersection of Maple and Clay streets in Oak, Neb. GPS 40.2366472222, -97.9038305556 Site location is on inaccessible private land along the Little Blue River approximately 2 miles northwest of Oak. Closest public location is intersection of Rd U and Rd 4300, about ½ mile north of the site.)