Limón became accessible to large-scale economic activity and settlement after the government decided to build a railroad from San José to present-day Puerto Limón (or, as the locals call it, Limón). Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez proposed the project in 1870, shortly after his successful coup, as a more efficient means to ship to Europe. Although he secured two English bank loans in 1871 and got the American Henry Meiggs to take on the project, work stopped in 1873 due to financial, logistical, and labor issues. The railroad sat unfinished until the presidency of Próspero Fernández. In 1884, thanks to the effort of the Minister of Public Works, Bernardo Soto, Costa Rica hired Meiggs' nephew, Minor Keith, to renegotiate Costa Rica's debt and complete the project.