Utes had survived with the geography and harsh climate of Utah for centuries, but white settlement destroyed this. Ute bands in Utah's central valleys were pushed out of traditional hunting and foraging areas by Mormon towns, farms, and livestock, resulting in some Ute bands starving. Cattle or horses put out to graze by the settlers were occasionally taken as a kind of 'rent' payment for the settlers' use of the land where Utes had lived for centuries. During the Black Hawk War, chief Black Hawk and allies made a business out of taking thousands of heads of livestock, transporting them out of Utah Territory and selling or trading them for goods and money with 'brokers' like Isaac Potter. Some suggest that Black Hawk believed that the loss of livestock was the quickest way to interfere with the growth of settlements.