Gulching

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Gulching refers to the act of forming a localized, underground economic community. The term comes from Galt's Gulch, the fictional village of economic outlaws in Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged. Galt's Gulch was hidden in the Rocky Mountains and protected by a holographic shield. Modern gulching does typically occur in remote areas, but can also take place in suburban or urban areas, or even online. These underground communities are called gulches, and the inhabitants thereof are called gulchers.

Gulchers trade and barter with each other outside of government regulation and tax systems. The intent is to create a greater degree of economic freedom, while building a local trade network to provide goods and services that might become unavailable if the mainstream economy collapses. Gulchers are also free to trade outside of the gulch, though a remote location might make this difficult.

Writer Taran Jordan describes a gulch as "a place where one stores needed supplies to last a certain length of time, until one has arranged to produce as many of those supplies as possible once that initial time runs out, [where] one has made contacts with other likeminded folks to band together in the interests of future production, trade, and the defense of the produce, its means of production, and its producers, [and where] one can enjoy the fruits of one’s labor, and life at the pace of nature, free from those who do not choose this way of life." [1]

Claire Wolfe's The Gulcher's Guide recommends that gulches be located at least 100 miles from any major city, in the event that a catastrophe causes refugees to spill out of the city in search of food, loot, and refuge[2]. The choice of location involves tradeoffs that affect suitability for gulching. For instance, while the intermountain west is perceived as relatively friendly to the goals of gulchers, it also suffers from lack of water, harsh climates and poor agricultural conditions.

Since gulchers may need to sacrifice many conveniences associated with the above-ground economy, Wolfe considers the most crucial characteristic of a potential gulcher to be adaptability[3]. Gulchers typically eschew banks, preferring to barter or use gold as a currency. Wolfe notes that gulchers may have to rely on anonymous advertisements to find customers and services, e.g.:

"Chiropractor needed for individual in Coos County, New Hampshire."
"Internist and full range of clinic services available to gold-paying customers in Pocatello, Idaho."

Exact statistics on gulching's prevalence are unavailable. However, it is unlikely that they exist on any large scale.