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→Naming
== Naming ==
== Naming ==
John Galt did not ask anyone to name Galt's Gulch after him. The strikers did so probably for two reasons:
John Galt did not ask anyone to name Galt's Gulch after him. The strikers did so probably for two reasons:
# John Galt's new static-electricity engine was the source of the valley's electrical power, and a more abundant source than any of them could have imagined.
# John Galt's new [[John Galt#The electrostatic motor|electrostatic motor]] was the source of the valley's electrical power, and a more abundant source than any of them could have imagined.
# John Galt himself, as the prime mover of the great strike, was regarded as the man who made the Gulch possible.
# John Galt himself, as the prime mover of the great strike, was regarded as the man who made the Gulch possible.
But John Galt preferred to call the place Mulligan's Valley, after Midas Mulligan, who had bought the land and still owned it and leased it to all the others who lived and worked there.
But John Galt preferred to call the place Mulligan's Valley, after Midas Mulligan, who had bought the land and still owned it and leased it to all the others who lived and worked there.
== Laws and customs ==
Galt's Gulch did not have many ordinances as such. The Gulch was in essence a [[feudalism|feudal]] society. [[Midas Mulligan]] was the landlord (hence John Galt's custom of calling the place Mulligan's Valley), and all rents flowed to him. The community had no "village plan commission" or "zoning board." As the landowner, Midas made his own decisions about land-use planning and seems to have tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. Aside from such questions, under [[Judge Narragansett]]'s guidance, the residents of the Gulch probably conducted their affairs according to the principles of English [[Common Law]].
John Galt described the Gulch to [[Dagny Taggart]] as a place of rest. The Gulch had no [[police]] force or [[sheriff]], because it had no [[crime]]. Judge Narragansett's judicial activities were probably limited to the occasional Request for Judicial Intervention to ratify [[arbitration]] agreements. The judge might also have reopened his [[law]] practice to assist his neighbors with the drawing-up of [[contract]]s.
However, the Gulch had several unwritten customs which arose, as Galt also explained, as a reaction to the things that the residents sought to rest ''from.'' No one ever remained in the Gulch at another person's expense, nor asked nor granted any unremunerated favors. Every resident was expected to pay his rent to Midas Mulligan, or else pay room and board to the leaseholder of any house in which he stayed. Similarly, no one ever "borrowed" something belonging to another; instead one ''rented'' it and was expected to negotiate a rent with the owner. (And if one discovered that he was renting the same article often enough to make it a significant expense, then he might ask Midas Mulligan for a loan, if necessary, and buy the article.)
For example, when John Galt wished to take Dagny Taggart on a driving tour of the valley, he needed to secure a car, because he did not own one. (He didn't need to own a car in a place where he stayed only one month of the year.) So he asked Midas Mulligan for the use of his car. But he did not "borrow" that car in the usual sense; he ''rented'' it and actually paid a daily rental on it. Dagny thought that behavior strange, but Galt explained it as an example of "resting" from the constant stress of living in a society in which one's fellow citizens constantly demanded certain things of one and expressed no willingness to pay for those things.
== Immigration ==
[[Immigration]] to the Gulch was predicated on three criteria:
# The immigrant must be a striker,
# The immigrant must be prepared to find gainful employment in the valley, and
# The immigrant must under no circumstances reveal the valley's location or even its existence to the outside.
The only person, other than a permanent immigrant, to visit the valley was [[Dagny Taggart]]. Though she declined to stay, she agreed to keep the existence and location secret. [[Henry Rearden]] guessed the secret of the existence, not of the valley ''per se'' but of a place where the talented men who had quit and vanished had repaired to. But he would not learn the location of the valley until [[Francisco d'Anconia]] brought him to the valley in October of (presumably) 1929.
== Defense ==
== Defense ==