The article deals with the initial biography stage of a major Soviet specialist in economic geography, professor and doctor of economic sciences, an outstanding organizer of science Clavdiy Nikolaevich Mirotvortsev, which covers the period from his birth in 1880 until the end of service in the Altai in 1916. The article gives special attention to the Altai period, as this stage of the scientist’s life has hardly been presented in any of his biographies. From 1910 to 1916 Mirotvortsev was actively engaged in the reform of major territorial and economic complex in the southeast of Western Siberia under the control of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty, intensively studied the nature of Altai and the organization of the economy in the region. He conducted extensive analytical work and published several papers, representing not only the economic but also the scientific value. The authors conclude that for this moment it is the most complete reconstruction of the initial biography of the researcher.