By mid-century many corporations wanted to distance themselves from the company town concept, yet in some places a need for nearby housing remained because employees did not want to spend hours on the road and winter blizzards could close roads near mines and mills. Some companies gradually concluded that short-range involvement offered a solution: they could buy land, plan a community, secure permits, build infrastructure, and then sell lots for houses and space for services while avoiding the paternalism associated with traditional company towns. In the effort that led to Wright, Atlantic Richfield did not move quickly or with a single clear purpose for more than a year. Leaders in its Synthetic Crude Division discussed the problem as they prepared to build and operate massive mines and plants in isolated parts of western Colorado and northern Wyoming, employing hundreds or even thousands of workers. They wanted to avoid the bad publicity of house trailers scattered across the countryside, could not accept an incompetent and transient workforce, and sought to attract the best workers through an approach unfamiliar to executives trained in mining and engineering.