Changes

In the springtime of the same year (2011) in which Francisco first drove the San Sebastiän Mines into the Sierra Madre Mountains, John Galt recruited [[Midas Mulligan]], the famous banker of [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]. Mulligan had long since bought out the old mining "ghost town" of Ouray, [[Colorado]], after the very slow economy had long since killed its tourist trade. (In real life, Ouray, CO is accessible by one paved road, the southern part of which is a switchback pass without guardrails.) Mulligan in fact owned the entire land area of the former town of Ouray, together with several miles of the Uncompahgre River valley to either side. Now Mulligan built a single house up-slope from the valley floor, cut off all access except for the old Million Dollar Highway (which he now camouflaged), and stocked the valley with supplies to last a man a lifetime.

In the springtime of the same year (2011) in which Francisco first drove the San Sebastiän Mines into the Sierra Madre Mountains, John Galt recruited [[Midas Mulligan]], the famous banker of [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]. Mulligan had long since bought out the old mining "ghost town" of Ouray, [[Colorado]], after the very slow economy had long since killed its tourist trade. (In real life, Ouray, CO is accessible by one paved road, the southern part of which is a switchback pass without guardrails.) Mulligan in fact owned the entire land area of the former town of Ouray, together with several miles of the Uncompahgre River valley to either side. Now Mulligan built a single house up-slope from the valley floor, cut off all access except for the old Million Dollar Highway (which he now camouflaged), and stocked the valley with supplies to last a man a lifetime.

But Mulligan did not stay secluded. He hired John Galt to build at least two vital projects: a refractor-ray system to project a false image of the valley for any curious pilots (satellites had long since fallen silent), and a powerhouse to provide energy for the ray screen, for Midas Mulligan's house, and for any other house that a man might build. And so, in June of that year, Francisco (and his friend Ragnar Danneskjöld) came to this valley, not to the former meeting place of the strikers (wherever that had been, which the novel never names). Each of the three built a house in the valley, to use for one month out of the twelve. John and Francisco likely worked together to extend electrical service from the powerhouse to each of the four houses in the valley.

But Mulligan did not stay secluded. He hired John Galt to build or complete at least three vital projects:

Francisco needed only one look at the surrounding mountains to see the possibilities. He prospected through those mountains, and struck a lode of [[copper]]. Now he knew that he could still build a productive career, ''and'' provide a product for what might one day become a thriving community. For Francisco knew that as the strike gathered momentum, it would create a community of like-minded men. That community would need copper and other raw materials. And so he quietly recruited some of his people at D'Anconia Copper, hired some of his fellow strikers, and worked the lode. D'Anconia Copper Number One became the first mining operation in the place that he now called [[Galt's Gulch]].

 

 

Francisco undertook the cutoff of the Million Dollar Highway as a subcontractor to Galt. Francisco had long suspected that the Red Mountain Pass held a motherlode of copper. He knew that someone had bought the Uncompaghre River Valley years before, but didn't know who until Galt told him that he not only had found the owner (i.e., Mulligan), but had recruited him into the strike. Now Francisco asked for and got a leasehold in the Red Mountain Pass. He brought his own workforce, and his own equipment, to prospect through the Pass. Erasing the Million Dollar Highway and restoring it to its original wilderness condition was a simple and incidental job, that he accepted for a nominal fee. He also appreciated the rich irony of that job: he was giving the world's "environmentalists" just what they always asked for, and in the process cutting off their access to what had been one of their favorite tourist traps: the Ouray Ice Park, where well-heeled environmentalists once practiced ice climbing in the ice that was the source of the Uncompaghre River. (In real life, Ouray Ice Park still functions.)

 

Francisco did prospect through the pass, and struck a lode of [[copper]], just as he thought he would. Now he knew that he could still build a productive career, ''and'' provide a product for what might one day become a thriving community. For Francisco knew that as the strike gathered momentum, it would create a community of like-minded men. That community would need copper and other raw materials. And so he quietly recruited some of his people at D'Anconia Copper, hired some of his fellow strikers, and worked the lode. D'Anconia Copper Number One became the first mining operation in the place that he now called [[Galt's Gulch]].

Labor was chronically short, so Francisco designed new mining machines to enable one miner to do the work of ten or more. Transportation remained a problem; only [[mule]]s could negotiate the trail he blazed to the mine. (Eventually, [[Henry Rearden]] would help him build a truck road, and after that, [[Dagny Taggart]] would build a railroad from the mine to the valley. But that would come near the end of the strike.)

Labor was chronically short, so Francisco designed new mining machines to enable one miner to do the work of ten or more. Transportation remained a problem; only [[mule]]s could negotiate the trail he blazed to the mine. (Eventually, [[Henry Rearden]] would help him build a truck road, and after that, [[Dagny Taggart]] would build a railroad from the mine to the valley. But that would come near the end of the strike.)