The 1880s

For a few years "The Cotton Family" enjoyed the relative calm of a dependable manager. It did not prove to be a long respite. Cotton had a sophisticated knowledge of the managerial business and believed that he could do it better.  Not all disasters can be chalked up to human failures.  When his comedy troupe tried to land in Canada they were detained for weeks to insure the control of disease.  The broken engagements and the promises of pay for the players could not be overcome.  The actors staggered to a seasonal close.  The recourse was to return to minstrelsy... with Billy Birch.  Together they traveled through California.  Eventually Cotton soldiered on alone, into Montana and another mining boom.