Early development in the area was on the St. Croix River, which now forms the boundary with Wisconsin on the county's eastern side. The river provided a waterway to move settlers upstream and to transport logs downstream. The heavily forested area fostered an early logging and lumber economy. The area's first settlers arrived at the future Afton in 1837. In 1838 settlers started "Dacotah," at the north edge of present Stillwater, at the junction of Brown's Creek and the St. Croix. The creek's name is from the founder of this settlement, Joseph Renshaw Brown. However, a sawmill was built at Marine-on-St.-Croix in 1839, and another was built in the current location of downtown Stillwater in 1844. The success of these soon attracted the settlers from Dacotah, and that community declined.