The article analyzes the industrial activities of the middle class in the cities of the Tomsk province of the Russian Empire in the pre-reform period. Consideration is given to its general diversity and certain types. The authors give a description of the legal status of the Siberian tradesman, his rights and duties in this field. The article describes the features of soap, rope and brick industry of the petty bourgeoisie in the cities of South-Western Siberia. Attention is given to such issues as the features of the industrial production: the quality, profitability of institutions, the number of wage-workers and their working conditions. The authors state that the industry was on the low stage of its development: they were small handicraft businesses, where production was carried out in a primitive way. The paper also gives statistics on such parameters as the dynamics of industrial activity in the pre-reform period. The authors research the features of the industry burghers in different cities of the Tomsk province, as well as the problems that lay in wait for them. It was shown that there was uneven development of the activity if the provincial areas and scale of activity depended on the climatic, geographic and socio- economic conditions of the living. The most beneficial in this regard was the Tomsk district.