History has preserved many surnames of millionaires from the Russian Empire, such as Vtorov, Morozov, Konshin, Polyakov, Kamenka, Polovtsev, and others. However, their commercial activities were concentrated in the European part of Russia, while much less is known about Siberian entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, they made a significant contribution to the development of the Far East and their regions. One such entrepreneur was the Irkutsk merchant Mikhail Butin. Born in 1836, he began working as a clerk at local factories from a young age and then decided to start his own business. At that time, gold mines were yielding significant profits, and Butin focused on this direction. Over time, he accumulated considerable capital, studied the organization of mines in the USA, and later opened an ironworks. There was a severe shortage of metal in Siberia, and sometimes pioneers had to reforge axes into shovels due to the lack of it.

The new factory near Bratsk, equipped with the latest technology, gradually eliminated the shortage of metal products. In 1896, I. Shneev wrote in his "Brief Historical Essays on the Factory and Plant Industry of the Irkutsk Province" that there was not a single house in Eastern Siberia where products from the Nikolayevsky factory were not used: iron on roofs, stove doors, irons, and other household items. The factory's products were of high quality and were exhibited at leading world exhibitions, and in 1880, the enterprise received the Grand Gold Medal from the European Scientific Society.

Mikhail Butin aimed for the continuous development of his factory. From the 1880s, steamships began to be built in Siberia, and Butin's factory launched 13 ships. One of the major steamship companies also belonged to him. Additionally, Butin actively supported his native Irkutsk, financing kindergartens, almshouses, geographical expeditions, and serving as the director of the Irkutsk prison committee.

However, his commercial activities ended unsuccessfully. In the mid-1880s, Siberia experienced several years of drought, rivers dried up, leading to losses for steamship companies and gold mines. Moreover, with the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway, cheaper goods began to arrive in Irkutsk from central Russia, and Butin ultimately went bankrupt.