Rand introduces "Wyatt's Torch" as Dagny returns on the train to Wyatt Junction. What does the term suggest?

Ellis Wyatt has set fire to his old fields and disappeared. He leaves behind him a ray of hope in the flame that will come to be known as Wyatt's Torch. Although his message that he is leaving the oil field as he found it seems fatalistic, the light he leaves suggests that there is hope for the future.