Between 1881 and 1921 little industry existed in Ashgabat. Muradov relates that in 1915 the city featured "68 enterprises, mainly semi-handicrafts, with a total of 200-300 workers." Another source relates that as of 1911 roughly half the workforce of somewhat more than 400 "workers" was employed at the railroad depot, engaged in locomotive and railcar maintenance and repair, with the rest occupied in cotton ginning, cottonseed oil extraction, flour milling, and leather-, brick-, glass-, and iron production.  By 1915 the city boasted as well three printing houses, an electrical power station, three cotton gins, a creamery, a tannery, and 35 brickyards.