In September of 1821, a revolt in Mexico was ultimately successful and they became a free country. This made it so that they could trade with whomever they wanted and not just the Spanish. For this next part of the story we go to Missouri in 1821. A massive financial depression gripped the state. The depression got so bad that farmers could not sell their produce locally. They were forced to ship it down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans to get any money at all. It was expensive to ship produce that far and farmers were losing lots of money by doing this. One of the worst off at the time was William Becknell. He was a 31-year-old man who worked as a Salt maker. He was about to go to jail because he owed so much money. For an unknown reason William Becknell planned a desperate last minute trip to Santa Fe. William Becknell started his long trip from Franklin, Missouri with five other men. It took him about three months to reach New Mexico. He was very nervous because the previous attempts at trading in New Mexico were unsuccessful. On the afternoon of November …show more content…
Governor Facundo Melgares, welcomed Becknell and his men, telling them of New Mexico’s new independence and letting them know that New Mexico was now open for trade. He sent Becknell back with lots of money from the few trade supplies Becknell brought with him. Governor Melgares told Becknell to return to Missouri and tell the people of the trade now available in New Mexico. Legend says the on Becknell’s return to Franklin Missouri in 1822, Becknell slashed open a bag full of silver coins and spilled them across the cobblestone streets, the insane amount of profit on only a small amount of goods. Word spread quickly of this new way of making money and soon the town and the state caught the Santa Fe trade fever. Becknell had found a way to bring an entire state out of a