The Navajos were adroit raiders. In rounding up stock they would often camouflage themselves with bush foliage, crawling past the unsuspecting guards to stampede the herd. Or they would skin a young steer, leaving hoofs and horns in place and throw the hide over a brace of Indians, who would steal to the corral under cover of darkness, let down the bars, and quietly drive the stock away.
These raids were costly. Not only did the settlers live in constant fear, but a heavy toll of livestock, estimated in 1869 at 1200 horses and cattle, was taken. Men had to be continually on the alert and peaceful pursuits were interrupted to furnish posses to chase the Indians. When Major J. W. Powell of the U. S. Geological Survey was exploring the Kanab region in 1870, he expressed grave concern about the losses the Mormon settlers were suffering because of the raids.[76] In October, Jacob Hamblin decided to accompany Major Powell on a peace mission to the Navajos when the latter was leaving to return to Washington, DC.[77] They reached Fort Defiance in eastern Arizona at a time when 6,000 Navajos were gathered there for their annual allotments from the Federal government.
All the Navajo chiefs but one were present and met in council to consider Hamblin’s proposal. Powell introduced Hamblin by saying that he represented the Mormons from the other side of the Colorado River who were helping to pay the taxes from which the annual allotments to the Navajos were made. Hamblin, in turn, pointed to the disastrous consequences of the war and the advantages of peace. Through war the Navajos had lost twenty or thirty men; with peace they could herd their livestock in distant places where forage was good without fear of molestation. He proposed, in place of war, a peaceful settlement of difficulties and trade with the Mormons.
After several days of consultation, peace was agreed upon. The council appointed one of the chiefs, Hastele, who lived near the Colorado River, as negotiator who ended by saying, “We hope we may be able to eat at one table, be warmed by one fire, smoke one pipe and sleep under one blanket.” Thus was peace promised, though it was soon again to be put in jeopardy. Hamblin reached Kanab with the good news about December 11, 1870.[78]
Within a few weeks, a group of eighty Navajos arrived at Kanab on a trading expedition. They came on foot and brought all the Navajo blankets they could carry. They scattered among the settlements and traded their blankets for horses and returned well satisfied with the experiment.
Peaceful trading continued until the winter of 1873-74, when a party of four young Navajos was caught in a snowstorm near a ranch in Grass Valley, Sevier County. They made themselves at home at the ranch and even killed a small animal for food. The owner of the ranch, said to be a non-Mormon, learned of their presence and gathered some of his friends to go with him to investigate. At the ranch, they shot and killed three of the Indians and wounded the fourth, who escaped and after painful hardships made his way home.[79]
His story inflamed Navajo vengefulness and disquieting reports reached the Mormons of threatened reprisals. Brigham Young asked Hamblin to visit the Navajos again and satisfy them that the Mormons were not involved in the outrage. Bishop Levi Stewart of Kanab, however, tried to dissuade Hamblin and even sent a messenger to induce him to return after he had started, urging that the risk was too great.
Firm in his purpose, Hamblin went his way and met the Navajos east of Moencopi, about January 29, 1874. Hastele, the representative appointed by the Navajos, was not there, but other influential Indians considered Hamblin’s statement. The war council was held in a Navajo hogan, to which there was but one entrance opposite Hamblin and his two companions, while two dozen Navajos occupied the space between.
Hamblin’s explanation of the killings was at first rejected on the ground that it was he who had invited the Navajos to come into the Mormon country to trade, with the result that three of their good young men now lay on the ground “for the wolves to eat.” The interpreter told Hamblin his companions could go home, but he must die. The moment was tense. His companions refused to leave him. Without arousing suspicion, Hamblin passed several revolvers to his friends, saying as he did so, “These are in my way.” The men behind unobtrusively readied them in case of emergency. Hamblin reminded the Indians of his many friendly acts, of his willingness to come into their midst to settle the matter, and told them it was not right to kill him for the acts of strangers for whom he was not responsible. The wounded Indian was brought in. A stirring appeal for revenge was made by a young warrior, who demanded that Hamblin be the victim.
The Indians, however, after the excitement subsided, offered to settle for three hundred and fifty horses and cattle. Hamblin deliberately refused. One of them remarked that he would agree after he had been stretched over the hot coals of the fire. The interpreter asked if he were not afraid. “No,” he said, “my heart has never known fear. What is there to scare me?” “The Navajos,” was their answer, to which he replied that he “was not afraid of his friends.” Mollified, the Indians finally agreed to leave the matter to be settled by Hastele after an investigation.