The article is devoted to the analysis “Regulation on Factory People of the Altai Mining Plants” approved in 1836. The project arose during revision of the Altai plants by K.V. Chevkin after refusal of different ways of stimulation of diligence and responsibility of workers. The document is based on the division of all workers and employees into categories. This idea was borrowed from offers on the organization of Nerchinsk convicts work and considered the Altai factory traditions. The main innovation involved accurate division of all workers into categories and introduction for the majority of the differentiated service time. The article convincingly shows that the created system, though contained elements of encouragement of conscientious workers, was favorable only to the most qualified ones. The bulk of ordinary workers were outside the system of privileges and encouragement. According to the author, “Regulation” was of a reformatory character as the document considered results of last militarization of the mining department, corresponded to reforming of educational system in Altai and became the complex answer to the shortcomings revealed during the revision of the Altai plants by K.V. Chevkin.