Merchant Nikolai Vtorov was called the Siberian American and the Russian Morgan for his business acumen, energy, and ability to conduct business. He created numerous large and successful enterprises that made a significant contribution to the industrial development of the Soviet Union. Nikolai Alexandrovich started as a simple clerk in his father's store. Even at a young age, he showed talent in making profitable deals, and in 1900, at his father's direction, he began gold mining in Tomsk. After his father's death, Vtorov inherited 3 million rubles, as well as stores, shops, and inns.

However, Nikolai Alexandrovich did not rely solely on his father's money. He began to develop his own business, investing in industry and achieving impressive success. Vtorov is considered one of the founders of the chemical industry in Russia. For a long time, paints and varnishes were imported from Germany, but during World War I, the need for import substitution arose. Vtorov then organized the enterprise 'Rusko-Krask', and in 1915, a 'Coke Benzol' plant was built in the Kharkov province. During the Soviet era, these plants were merged, and the chemical plant supplied products to the entire USSR and the countries of the Comecon. At the same time, Russia began experiencing supply disruptions of grenades to the front, and Vtorov solved this problem by building a military factory near Luzhniki, which produced up to 30,000 grenades a day. By the way, the famous Budenovkas were also sewn at Nikolai Alexandrovich's enterprises.

Vtorov completed his last major project in 1917. A plant 'for the production of special high-grade steel' was built in the Moscow region, which became a city-forming enterprise, and today the city of Elektrostal is located on this site. Together with merchant Ryabushinsky, Vtorov founded the AMO automobile plant, now known as ZIL. Nikolai Vtorov died under mysterious circumstances: he was shot on May 20, 1918, right in his office. There were rumors that it was done by his adopted son, who Vtorov had refused to give a large sum of money.