In 1871, the two U.S. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs and Minor C. Keith successfully signed a contract with Costa Rican government to build a railroad track, connected the capital city of San Jose to Limon, the contract also included 800,000 acres of lands along the route and 99 years tax free for operation of the train. In addition, the construction required a huge amount of labor forces; Keith started to use bananas as a cheap food source for with workers. The railroad completed in 1890, and started to run into its business. However, the amount of passenger did not meet the expectation, the railroad worked insufficiently and the burden of Keith's financial getting heavier. Meanwhile, during that time in the U.S., people were craving for the yellow, thin tropical fruit that being brought back from Central America. There's a high demand for bananas than ever before.
Refer back to the history of bananas; they were founded in Central America and South East Asia, during the 1800's. They were considered one of the most luxury and expensive fruit because of their specific climate requirement, and the lack of road and transportation made them doubly difficult for selling in large quantity. "The banana trade in its infant evolution was hazardous and unpredictable. Pioneering in the pestilent jungle lowlands, where bananas grow, was heartbreaking because the jungle fights to reclaim its terrain and only the strong survive." (4) May Stacy commented in her book 'The United Fruit Company in Latin America. Yet, today, less than a century later, banana is a popular fruit that's selling everywhere and appears in almost any home. .
Keith realized the potential of the banana market; he took advantage of his available railroad and lands. The first shipment of Keith's banana was succeeded; it was trained to Limon and then by ship shipped to the U.S. In 1899, Keith merged his banana trading company with Boston Fruit Company, founded by Andrew Preston, and established the United Fruit Company.
