U.S. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs had signed…

U.S. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs had signed a contract with the government of Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez in 1871 to build a railroad connecting the capital city of San José to the port of Limón in the Caribbean.

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

Since the main market for Costa Rican coffee is in Europe and no canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans existed, creating a reliable transportation route to the Caribbean is a high priority for the Costa Rican government.

The construction of the railroad, however, proves extraordinarily challenging due to inadequate financing coupled to the rugged terrain, thick jungle, torrential rains, and prevalence of malaria, yellow fever, dysentery, and other tropical diseases.