Dalstroy authorities chose civilians employed as labor force, but faced with the harsh climate, with long winters and extremely low temperatures, working conditions were brutal from the onset. After the organization was placed under the NKVD in 1938, prisoners from various forced labor camps (ITL - Исправительно-трудовой лагерь) of the USSR were used as miners, as well as for the building of the infrastructure that the region lacked. Development of the area included industrial, railway, airfield, harbor and road construction, as well as providing the administrative and urban structure for a territory which previously had had no roads and no cities.