Keya Paha County was organized at a special election on January 20, 1885, from the part of Brown County north of the Niobrara River. Its name comes from “Ke’-ya Pa-ha’ Wakpi,” or “Turtle Hill River,” the Lakota Indian designation for the stream that crosses the northeastern part of the county. Bounded by South Dakota on the north and the Niobrara River on the south, the county encompasses some 492,000 acres. Early settlements included Norden, Meadville, Springview, Riverview, Burton, Pinecamp, Carns, Mills, Brocksburg, Jamison, and Simpson, and in May 1885 Springview was chosen as the county seat. During the 1880s and 1890s, outlaws such as “Kid” Wade and “Doc” Middleton knew the region well, and lawlessness met by vigilante justice gave the county’s early history a thread of romance and tragedy. During those turbulent years, some called Keya Paha “Mob County.” The county population peaked at 3,920 in 1890 and was estimated at 1100 in 1985. More than forty schools and thirty post offices once existed in the county, but by the centennial year nine schools remained along with post offices at Mills and Springview.