The article is devoted to the characteristics of the inspection policy of the Altai district management at the end of XIX — the beginning of the XX century. It was realized through trips of the Cabinet heads to Altai. There were eight inspection trips to the region by all directors of the Cabinet, except N. D. Obolensky, and also all managers of Land and Factory department of the Cabinet. The authors show that at the beginning of the XX century inspection trips of heads of the Cabinet to the Altai district became an essential part of their responsibility. Those trips were taken to gain familiarity with the economy of the region. The authors point out that inspection trips were not extraordinary measures and in the Cabinet records they were referred to as «official business trips». The first three trips of the Cabinet heads, taken separately, lay the foundation for the new policy of the higher management of the district, that is to say, heads of the Cabinet’s personal inspection trips to the district. Beginning with 1907 visits by the heads of the Cabinet were considered points of reference used to bring out new suggestions for regional economy development. The authors prove that the Head of the Cabinet E. N. Volkov fully shared the opinion of the role of inspection trips to the district. The authors came to the conclusion that by 1916 inspection visits to the Altai district began to be considered as one of important and widely-practiced ways of higher management, providing stability of the Cabinet’s possessions in the Altai district.