Minor Cooper Keith

His pioneering banana interests were absorbed by the then powerful United Fruit Company, today industry dominating giant Chiquita Brands International.

The company was formed in 1899, from the merger of Minor C. Keith's banana-trading concerns with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company.

His pioneering banana interests were absorbed by the then powerful United Fruit Company, today industry dominating giant Chiquita Brands International.

In 1873 Central American railroad developer Minor C. Keith began to experiment with banana production in Costa Rica.

Having saved $3,000 in a year, Keith bought a cattle ranch located on a river island near the mouth of the Rio Grande, in southern Texas, which he administered until 1871, when he accepted a work invitation, from his uncle to help manage the building of a railroad in Costa Rica, in Central America.

For this purpose, in the 1870s, the Costa Rican government contracted with U.S. businessman Minor C. Keith to build a railroad from San José to the Caribbean port of Limón.

In 1871, Keith's uncle Henry Meiggs had signed a contract with the government of Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez for the construction of a railroad from the capital city of San José to what became the Caribbean port of Limón.

He built many railroads in Peru, and died in 1877 in Lima, Peru while constructing a railroad in Costa Rica which was completed by his nephew, Minor C. Keith.

In exchange, the government of President Próspero Fernández Oreamuno gave Keith 800,000 acres (3,200 km²) of tax-free land along the railroad, plus a 99-year lease on the operation of the train route.

During his administration the state defaulted on its financial obligations to Minor C. Keith, who was building a railway to the Caribbean port of Limón.

In 1904, Keith signed a contract with the President of Guatemala, Manuel Estrada Cabrera, that gave the company tax-exemptions, land grants, and control of all railroads on the Atlantic side of the country.

Cabrera signed a contract with UFC's Minor Cooper Keith in 1904 that gave the company tax-exemptions, land grants, and control of all railroads on the Atlantic side.

In 1912 he returned to railroad building, organizing the International Railways of Central America and eventually completing an 800-mi (1,287-km) railway system, but died before realizing his dream of a line from Guatemala to the Panama Canal.

Cabrera signed a contract with UFCO's Minor Cooper Keith in 1904 that gave the company tax exemptions, land grants, and control of all railroads on the Atlantic side.

The two most powerful cabinet ministers in the government of President Fernández were his son-in-law Soto (who succeeded him after his death) and his brother-in-law Dr. José María Castro Madriz, who had previously served twice as President of Costa Rica.

His daughter Cristina Fernández Castro married Minor C. Keith in 1883.

In 1899, he was forced by a financial setback to combine his venture with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company, which dominated the banana trade in the West Indies.

In 1899 Preston formed an agreement with Minor C. Keith, and merged the enterprise into the newly created United Fruit Company.

In 1899, he was forced by a financial setback to combine his venture with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company, which dominated the banana trade in the West Indies.

Later, in 1899, Preston and Minor C. Keith combined ventures to form the United Fruit Company.

Keith also invested in gold mining in Abangares, in the Costa Rican province of Guanacaste.

The first major mining operation was Abangares Mining Company, founded in the Tilarán mountains by U.S. railroad, fruit, and shipping magnate Minor C. Keith.

Minor Cooper Keith (19 January 1848 – 14 June 1929) was an American businessman whose railroad, commercial agriculture, and shipping enterprises much influenced the national economies of the Central American countries, and that of Colombia.

Minor Cooper Keith (19 January 1848 – 14 June 1929) was an American businessman whose railroad, commercial agriculture, and shipping enterprises much influenced the national economies of the Central American countries, and that of Colombia.

Having saved $3,000 in a year, Keith bought a cattle ranch located on a river island near the mouth of the Rio Grande, in southern Texas, which he administered until 1871, when he accepted a work invitation, from his uncle to help manage the building of a railroad in Costa Rica, in Central America. Minor Cooper Keith (19 January 1848 – 14 June 1929) was an American businessman whose railroad, commercial agriculture, and shipping enterprises much influenced the national economies of the Central American countries, and that of Colombia.

Minor Cooper Keith (19 January 1848 – 14 June 1929) was an American businessman whose railroad, commercial agriculture, and shipping enterprises much influenced the national economies of the Central American countries, and that of Colombia.

As a businessman, Minor C. Keith is notable for being a pioneer in the establishment and administration of a multi-national company and the exportation and importation of goods among the United States and the countries of the Caribbean Sea.

Keith was born in Brooklyn, New York, to the lumber merchant Minor Hubbell Keith and Emily Meiggs, sister of (Henry Meiggs, a railroad businessman).

Keith was born in Brooklyn, New York, to the lumber merchant Minor Hubbell Keith and Emily Meiggs, sister of (Henry Meiggs, a railroad businessman).

After private schooling, the sixteen-year-old adolescent was employed as a store clerk on Broadway; months later, he quit clerking, and became a lumber surveyor.

Having saved $3,000 in a year, Keith bought a cattle ranch located on a river island near the mouth of the Rio Grande, in southern Texas, which he administered until 1871, when he accepted a work invitation, from his uncle to help manage the building of a railroad in Costa Rica, in Central America.

In 1871, Keith's uncle Henry Meiggs had signed a contract with the government of Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez for the construction of a railroad from the capital city of San José to what became the Caribbean port of Limón.

In 1871, Keith's uncle Henry Meiggs had signed a contract with the government of Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez for the construction of a railroad from the capital city of San José to what became the Caribbean port of Limón.

In 1871, Keith's uncle Henry Meiggs had signed a contract with the government of Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez for the construction of a railroad from the capital city of San José to what became the Caribbean port of Limón.

In 1871, Keith's uncle Henry Meiggs had signed a contract with the government of Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez for the construction of a railroad from the capital city of San José to what became the Caribbean port of Limón.

At the time, Costa Rica's economy was based primarily on the export of coffee, which was grown in the country's central valley and transported by oxcart to the Pacific port of Puntarenas.