Minor Cooper Keith

Minor Cooper Keith (1848-1929) was the nephew of U.S. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs, who took over Meiggs' contract to build a railroad in Costa Rica. Keith was involved from the start of the project in 1871 and took full control on Meiggs' death in 1877.

Keith was rather the last resort for the Costa Ricans--the route was mountainous, the bank accounts empty, the securities of the railroad unsellable. Keith began this business with his two brothers, who both died in the endeavor. To have something to transport on the railroad--and to sell--Keith began planting bananas along the rail line, from roots he obtained from the French. He had begun planting bananas in 1873. He imported labor from all over the world.

As Keith began to make a success of this project, financed by the sale of bananas, he renegotiated the deal with the Government. Keith obtained a 99 year lease on the railroad on the port of Limón, and to about 800,000 acres of lowlands--which he would soon start to farm, principally in bananas. In return, the Costa Ricans got a railroad they needed to have any chance of developing the country.

To market the bananas, Keith soon ran a steamship line from Limón to the United States. He bought up other Central American banana companies. In 1899, Keith combined his venture with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company in the West Indies to form the United Fruit Company.

He returned to railroad building, organized (1912) the International Railways of Central America, and completed an 800-mi (1,287-km) railway system, but died before realizing his dream of a line from Guatemala to the Panama Canal. His work profoundly altered the economic life of Central American countries.[1]