Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 1

It is the twilight of September 2^nd and Eddie Willers (age 32, p 3) is walking through the streets of New York en route to his office (p 4). The buildings are in a state of neglect and decay; it seems even the atmosphere is as well. A bum nestled amidst the shadows asks abruptly Who is John Galt?, a meaningless and evasive statement which troubles Eddie (p 3). Upon reaching Fifth Avenue, Eddie is comforted by the sight of goods “made by men, to be used by men.”

Eddie has a flashback to when he was seven years old (p 5). He had often visited the Taggart estate on the Hudson and admired an aged oak tree — “he thought it would always stand there.” The tree was later obliterated by lightning and “the trunk was only an empty shell; its heart had rotted away long ago. . . . the living power had gone, and the shape it left had not been able to stand without it.” Upon finding the corpse of the tree, Eddie felt his first sense of shock and betrayal and “never spoke about it to anyone.”

Eddie has a flashback to his tenth year (p 5) to a time with his “precious companion” in “a clearing of the woods” (p 6) (later revealed to be Dagny Taggart). The two children discuss what they will do in adulthood. Eddie wishes to do “whatever is right” while Dagny yearns for “business and earning a living.” Eddie adds that he anticipates “winning battles, or saving people out of fires, or climbing mountains” due to his minister’s prod to “always reach for the best within us.” Neither Eddie nor Dagny know what is their best within, causing Eddie to dream loosely and Dagny to look away, “up the railroad track.”

The statement Whatever is right remains a crux for Eddie as he walks into the office of James Taggart (p 6). James was the limp, pale and prematurely aged (p 7) President of Taggart Transcontinental (p 6). Eddie alerts James of the worsening state of the financially critical Rio Norte Line. Its shoddy old track remains un-replaced due to months of delays by Orren Boyle’s Associated Steel. Orren is James’ friend, and James warns Eddie, “There’s one thing you’re not going to mention next — and that’s Rearden Steel.” Eddie equates waiting any more on Associated Steel as just giving up on the Rio Norte Line (p 8) while its competitor the Phoenix-Durango continues to accumulate “freight traffic of” Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado” (p 9).

Eddie mentions the devastating loss to the Phoenix-Durango of Wyatt Oil’s freight (p 9). A biography of Ellis Wyatt ensues. Wyatt had inherited dying oil wells in a rocky patch of the Colorado mountains. Wyatt’s father had only “managed to squeeze an obscure living” but Wyatt gave “a shot of adrenalin to the heart of the mountain, the heart had started pumping, [and] the black blood had burst through the rocks.” Other oil companies faltered while Wyatt alone “discovered some way to revive exhausted oil wells” (p 10).

James’ abhorrence of the “grossly overrated” Wyatt provides “a sudden emotion” in his “lifeless voice.” James enters a tirade against Wyatt that transitions into a torrent of hate against the Phoenix-Durango. “[Wyatt would] come crawling to us, and he’d wait his turn along with all the other shippers, and he wouldn’t demand more than his fair share of transportation–if it weren’t for the Phoenix Durango. We can’t help it if we’re up against destructive competition of that kind. Nobody can blame us.” Frustrated by James’ evasiveness, Eddie leaves and is startled when he passes by Pop Harper trying to fix a typewriter until proclaiming, “You’re ready for the junk pile, old pal. Your days are numbered.”