Right - now how about penny whistles? Or similar. Easy to make, tough, portable, versatile, and definitely played in America. But were/are they used up in the mountains and suchlike, or in black communities?

'spaw's suggestion about dulcimers as a (gag)pipes substitute for poor people makes a lot of sense. But the places where pipes survived and were central to the tradition weren't exactly rich, and if the skills are there I believe it's not that hard to make a very playable set of pipes.

I'm still hoping that someone is going to come up with some living tradition somewhere that's been ignored. You've got a big country there. I liked the sound of that North Carolina pipe-playing gaelic speaking community Okie mentioned...