Say, radical, let's have some more imagination here. With regard to No. 8 above, recall the solution the Gulch had in the novel. Ragnar provided those goods. Those customers Ragnar told Hank Rearden he had within U.S. territory? The ones who paid him in gold (and he didn't say anything about making them pay him in gold)? None other than Midas Mulligan. He just didn't care to say it out loud.

About No. 11: the only reason the Gulch didn't have competing infrastructure was that Midas Mulligan, as *the* landowner, contracted with Dick McNamara to string the wires, lay the pipe, etc., and paid for it from the rents that Francisco d'Anconia and other primary leaseholders paid him. And also because John Galt was the sole electric-power provider, because he had a technique for it that was as cheap as the air. Literally. Absent that, I see no reason for competing and parallel infrastructure.

I always hated teachers like you.

"'The world is crashing faster than we expected," said Hugh Akston. "Men are stopping and giving up. Your frozen trains, the gangs of raiders, the deserters, they're men who've never heard of us, and they're not part of our strike, they are acting on their own—it's the natural response of whatever rationality is still left in them—it's the same kind of protest as ours.'

"'We started with no time limit in view,' said Galt. 'We did not know whether we'd live to see the liberation of the world or whether we'd have to leave our battle and our secret to the next generations. We knew only that this was the only way we cared to live. But now we think that we will see, and soon, the day of our victory and of our return.'"

"'When?' she whispered.

"'When the code of the looters has collapsed.'

"He saw her looking at him, her glance half-question, half-hope, and he added, 'When the creed of self-immolation has run, for once, its undisguised course—when men find no victims ready to obstruct the path of justice and to deflect the fall of retribution on themselves—when the preachers of self-sacrifice discover that those who are willing to practice it, have nothing to sacrifice, and those who have, are not willing any longer—when men see that neither their hearts nor their muscles can save them, but the mind they damned is not there to answer their screams for help—when they collapse as they must, as men without minds—when they have no pretense of authority left, no remnant of law, no trace of morality, no hope, no food and no way to obtain it—when they collapse and the road is clear—then we'll come back to rebuild the world.'"

"'Oregon is overrun by gangs of deserters,' said Clem Weatherby cautiously. 'They murdered two tax collectors within the last three months.'"

"'The police have been arresting them for leaving their jobs—they're called deserters—but there's too many of them and no food to feed them in jail, so nobody gives a damn any more, one way or another. I heard the deserters are just wandering about, doing odd jobs or worse—who's got any odd jobs to offer these days?… It's our best men that we're losing, the kind who've been with the company for twenty years or more. Why did they have to chain them to their jobs? Those men never intended to quit—but now they're quitting at the slightest disagreement, just dropping their tools and walking off, any hour of the day or night, leaving us in all sorts of jams—the men who used to leap out of bed and come running if the railroad needed them.… You should see the kind of human driftwood we're getting to fill the vacancies. Some of them mean well, but they're scared of their own shadows. Others are the kind of scum I didn't think existed—they get the jobs and they know that we can't throw them out once they're in, so they make it clear that they don't intend to work for their pay and never did intend. They're the kind of men who like it—who like the way things are now. Can you imagine that there are human beings who like it? Well, there are.…'

"'You know, I don't think that I really believe it—all that's happening to us these days. It's happening all right, but I don't believe it. keep thinking that insanity is a state where a person can't tell what's real. Well, what's real now is insane—and if I accepted it as real, I'd have to lose my mind, wouldn't I?...'"

"'Deserting, the bastards! Deserting us, in spite of all the penalties we've set up! He's quit and the rest are quitting and those mills are just left there, standing still! Do you understand what that means?'

"'Do you?' she asked.

"He had thrown his story at her, sentence by sentence, as if trying to knock the smile off her face, an odd, unmoving smile of bitterness and triumph; he had failed. 'It's a national catastrophe! What's the matter with you? Don't you see that it's a fatal blow? It will break the last of the country's morale and economy! We can't let him vanish! You've got to bring him back!'"

"... went out of business last week, without reason or warning, so now I'm stuck. Those bastards seem to be vanishing somewhere. Something will have to be done about it.'

"'The picture now is this,' said Wesley Mouch. 'The economic condition of the country was better the year before last than it was last year, and last year it was better than it is at present. It's obvious that we would not be able to survive another year of the same progression. Therefore, our sole objective must now be to hold the line. To stand still in order to catch our stride. To achieve total stability. Freedom has been given a chance and has failed. Therefore, more stringent controls are necessary. Since men are unable and unwilling to solve their problems voluntarily, they must be forced to do it.' He paused, picked up the sheet of paper, then added in a less formal tone of voice, 'Hell, what it comes down to is that we can manage to exist as and where we are, but we can't afford to move! So we've got to stand still. We've got to stand still. We've got to make those bastards stand still!'"

Too big a project for me. But that won't stop me from putting my two dollars in (2 cents no longer exists). Any Atlantis must have two immutable laws. I have mentioned them in the past, and probably will continue to do so. They are:
1. MYOB Mind Your Own Business
2. The right to say No and be respected for it.
As to the rest -- carry on.

Grandma taught me how to knit, because she had no granddaughters. I know how to knit. It's been much longer than 30 years.

I also know how to shear sheep, and have the sheep and about ten bags of poor-quality wool, very dirty wool. Anybody need a sweater?

What about transportation? Energy efficent electrics or Taggert Trans Gulch?

1. How will we protect it from physical detection?

2. Do we have the electrostatic dynamo? If not, how do we generate power?

3. Find a good source of potable water--a stream, a river, or even wells.

4. How will you recruit, train, equip, and deploy a militia to guard Atlantis?

5. Will the Gulch have a navy? Even if it's just the one ship?

6. How many commodities might one trade in the economy? Gold and silver coin, of course--but why not receipts for oil, coal, timber, and so on?

7. Full-reserve banking. No more fractional reserves.

8. Temporary solutions for goods Atlantis might need but cannot produce itself.

9. Organization: is it largely a feudal society, with major landowners keeping up roads and having rents or other profits pay for them?

10. Information and communications.

11. Competing and parallel infrastructure for power, water, information, etc.?

Start with a desert and turn it into an 'island' of abundance in a sea of coerced poverty.

I agree with Susanne. Removing that "Randian terrorist base" is a matter of principle, not cost.

It just seems like the logistics involved in creating and defending an island base cannot provide the long-term 'peace' required for men to be productive.

I'm thinking there may be more advantages to a land-based network of 'Gulch communities' that operate 'off the grid' in areas with a laissez-faire culture. The opportunities for attracting talent and skill increase with a geographical network; and there is less chance of our infrastructure being entirely wiped out in one location. Just some thoughts....

What about hidden in plain sight? Atlantis as a black op.

I don't have any skills. No skills. None at all. (hear that mr. NSA person?)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?u...

Territorial sovereignty?

No problem my son and I are opticians and our bags are packed. Maybe I can line up an opthatmologist also.

As a "younger" member of the Gulch, I feel compelled to say that this problem could be addressed by having founding members of Atlantis take on "apprentices" who are physically and mentally capable of the taxing labor necessary to perpetuate a project like this into the future.

Where in this World is such a place or could be a place where we can live free of any government?
They even have the moon controlled already!
Any ideas, let me know, I am ready to go.

If the Gulch is in the North you can use a combination of geothermal and wind to generate power.
If near a stream, hydroelectric is possible.

Actually human waste can be composted into usable fertilizer. Google Milorganite.

I like this assignment.
1). Who is currently capable of multitasking in at least three different areas of expertise as it relates to survival and everyday living?