Initially settling in the Salt Lake Valley did not provoke the Native Americans to war, but further settlement outside of Salt Lake provoked the Native Americans to more aggressive behavior. As settlement in these valleys increased, the Native Americans were pushed back into the mountains. In April 1865 the Black Hawk War broke out between local Native Americans and the Settlers of both the Sevier and Sanpete Counties. The war drastically ended the progress which was being made in creating farms and homes in and around Alma. On the night of the 21st of April, 1866, Walter Barney and Sidney Robinson were on guard watching the public corral when they spotted something lying on the fence when making their nightly rounds. When approached, they realized that it was two Native Americans. After chasing them away, they went back to the fence and realized that they had been digging around the poles to break the boundary around the corral.