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]