The paper reveals the positive impact of the intermediaries of peace and country societies on the progress of elementary education in settlements of the Altay mountain district in the period of liberal reforms of 1860–1870s. The volost school was one of the most widespread types of schools in agricultural regions. The authors present the first partial publication of hand-written “Report on Conditions of Rural Schools in the Tobolsk and Tomsk Provinces”. The part in question concerns the short history of “prosperity” of the volost schools in the region. The report was written in 1893 by a known Russian teacher B. I. Stsiborsky after his inspection of local elementary schools. He also used some researches of his predecessors (S. L. Chudnovsky, A. P. Bulanov, P. A. Golubev), archival materials, office records and publications of regional press. Stsiborsky’s report is both a historical research and an interesting, though secondary, source for studying history of education in Western Siberia.