Unfortunately, they found bleak prospects, a harsh climate, and barren land. After the Civil War, ranches east of the Trinity River often had all-black crews. West of the Nueces River, ranchers employed vaqueros more often than black cowboys. Far fewer blacks populated the northern ranges. Montana censuses counted only 183 blacks in 1870 and 346 in 1880.
Frontier regions lack the extensive documentation typical of cities.
The lack of documents makes it difficult to compute the number of cowboys or their ethnicity. Unfortunately, most black and Hispanic cowboys faced social and economic discrimination in the West as they did elsewhere in the country. Ikard was born a slave in Mississippi in 1847. Five years later his master brought Ikard to Texas. As a youth, he the cowboy trade on a ranch near Weatherford.