The article deals with the history of state communications in Siberia in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The author sets out the reasons and details of the foundation of the Verkhotursky, Turinsky, Tyumensky, Demyansky and Samarovsky coaching inns and describes their functioning. He identifies the place of coachmen in the structure of Russian society and shows their difficult material and legal situation due to the specifics of service and the nature of government policies aiming at saving funds and finding new sources of income. He concludes that state communications in Siberia functioned successfully. They contributed to the consolidation of the region within Russia and to its development.