No.^iir' ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — KUPFERER 317 



served by Conservative preachers or by Fundamentalist ministers 

 whose main concern is with "salvation." 



I do not mean to imply that the Conservatives are devoid of 

 acculturative Lafluences. The schools will continue to bring about 

 some change; marriages between Conservatives and Modern Indians 

 will also bring about change. And, certainly, new influences, such as 

 the manufacturing concerns on the reservation, will leave their mark. 



The remainder of the population is more acculturated as a result 

 of the influences to which it has been exposed. The current variations 

 within this segment are due to social class differences. Social mobility 

 among the Modern Indians is an on-going process. As individuals 

 better their economic situations, acquire more education, and adhere 

 more rigidly to middle class values, they wUl become members of the 

 higher stratum. Others, who do not aspire to upward mobility, or 

 for whom a combination of factors prevents mobility, will remain in 

 the lower stratum of Modern Indian society. 



Chapel Hill, N.C. 

 1961 



EPILOG, 1963 



Since "The Principal People" was written, along with the winds 

 that sweep down from the mountain peaks through the hamlets 

 of the reservation are other winds. Currents of change are coursing 

 through Cherokee. The most striking of these are in the economic 

 base of the tribe. My very brief visit to Cherokee in the early winter 

 of 1963 was sufficient to become acquainted with these surging forces. 

 From the point where the road reaches the level ground of the valley 

 the visitor is immediately made aware of activity. Here there is a 

 new motel; there grading is being done for a new factory; across the 

 river preparations are being carried out for the largest tourist attrac- 

 tion in western North Carolina. The driver must be cautious, for 

 paralleling the road through Paint town to Cherokee, waterlines and a 

 sewage system are being installed, employing Indian labor. The 

 roadside is different, too. Where the woods touch the roads the 

 underbrush has vanished, a project of the Forestry Branch which 

 utilized the labor pool of Cherokee. In short, these impressions which 

 signal fundamental economic alterations are in sharp contrast to the 

 Cherokee I knew such a short time ago. 



Agriculture. — Although farming has not been a major source of 

 cash for many, many years, the sharp decrease in the number of 

 farmers in the past 3 years is significant in that it attests to the 

 presence of other means of income. In 1960 there were 44 farmers. 

 Their farms were unevenly distributed within the Qualla Boundary. 



747-014— 6G— 21 



