Frontier County was organized in 1872, and Stockville became the county seat, but during its first decade no real town existed there, only a trading center for the region’s ranchers. The town began to grow in the middle-eighties, when the county filled with homesteaders. Nearby Medicine Creek was one of the region’s most important waterways, serving as a natural highway between the Republican and Platte Rivers, first for Indians and later for whites. After Fort McPherson was established, the Medicine route was regularly used by the military to protect the frontier. In the heart of the buffalo country, the Sioux favored the Medicine Valley, and in 1870 a band of former hostiles, the Whistler band of Cut-off Oglala, settled near here and lived in peace with early settlers for several years. Notable frontiersmen of the region included Hank and Monty Clifford, John Y. Nelson, and Doc Carver, while Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro were regular visitors as they guided wealthy hunters on buffalo hunts.