When Frontier County was organized in 1872, Stockville became the county seat. During its first decade, no real town existed, and it was only a trading center for the ranchers of the region. Not until the middle-eighties, when the county filled with homesteaders, did the town begin to grow. Nearby Medicine Creek, one of the region's most important waterways, served as a natural highway between the Republican and Platte Rivers, first for Indians and then for whites. After Fort McPherson was established, the Medicine route was regularly used by the military as they protected the frontier. In the heart of the buffalo country, the Sioux favored the Medicine Valley. In 1870, a band of former hostiles, the Whistler band of Cut-off Oglala, settled near here and lived in peace with the early settlers for several years. Notable frontiersmen of the region included Hank and Monty Clifford, John Y. Nelson, and Doc Carver, and Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro were regular visitors who guided wealthy people on buffalo hunts.