Without the quest for money there would not have been an Independence, Missouri. Two economic factors were the primary cause of Independence coming into existence where and when it did: the Santa Fe trade and the Missouri and Rocky Mountain fur trade. Perhaps the most pressing problems which both the Santa Fe trade and the fur traders faced was getting their trade goods as far westward as possible by water transportation and getting the results of their efforts to the Mississippi Valley markets where they could realize a profit on these goods. In 1827, a site was selected near the western border of the state of Missouri that steamboats could reach and where it was thought a permanent landing could be established. It was in the country of Jackson (much larger than the present county of that name) that a site was surveyed and named Independence.
