Meiggs became a successful railroad builder, building the second railroad in Chile, between Santiago and Valparaíso. After building himself a mansion in Chile with his immense fortunes, he moved his career on to Peru in the mid-1860s. He built a railroad from Lima – the capital city – to the Altiplano, which has an altitude of 14,000 feet. 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. He is said to have been the virtual dictator of Peru by that time, known as "Don Enrique", with interests ranging from silver mines to cleaning up the city of Lima by building a seven-mile-long park.