He feels this can be accomplished in 50 years, and specifically targets the Cherokee because they show many traits whites see as promising, ordering Henry Dearborn to begin introduction of technology in the form of spinning wheels and carding machines. Government funded spinning wheels arrive in 1792 along with cotton and seed just before the hunting season. The Cherokee males are surprised by the cloth their wives weave. Among those most impressed with the work is the warrior Ridge when he returns to his home at Pine Log. The next year, with their own cotton, the Cherokee women weave cloth in six months that is worth more than the pelts the Cherokee men gather in the same amount of time.
Ridge begins to see how the technology can help.
Two other men live in Pine Log who, along with Ridge, heavily influence the coming renaissance. Charles Hicks, crippled by a painful hip, impresses Ridge because Hicks spends money on books. James Vann, who impresses Ridge because he stands up to a higher chief named Doublehead, also lives there. With the defeat of the Chickamauga in 1794, early signs of nationalism begin to form among the Cherokee, spurred in part by the Indian agent Dinsmoor. To the east encroachment troubles the Cherokee.