From the Smog series

'The Urals is Russia’s main industrial region. Mass plant construction began here back in the 17th century in the days of Peter I. Further significant waves of industrialization occurred in the 1930s and during WWII when factories from the European part of the USSR were evacuated to the Urals. Some factories gave start to large cities that exist today, others became out of date and disappeared or can be seen as ruinous dams in some villages. Labor and factories were the core, the destiny of the Urals and to some extent, this is true even today.'