Leonard H. Eicholtz

Leonard Henry Eicholtz (April 23, 1827 – January 3, 1911) was a leading 19th-century American railroad engineer and civil engineer.

Early life and career Eicholtz was born in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1827, being the oldest son of Henry and Elizabeth Eicholtz. The family was of German origin, his great grandfather, Jacob Eicholtz, left the Palatinate, Germany, and coming to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Lancaster county, in 1733. Eicholtz studied civil engineering at the Moravian Academy at Lititz, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania railroad In 1852, Eicholtz joined the corps of engineers working on the railroad until 1854 when he started working on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. Eicholtz remained on the project until the railroad experience financial problems due to the Panic of 1857. Eicholtz left the railroad at that time only to return in 1858. Andrew J. Russell photograph of some of the civil engineers who worked on the Union Pacific (1863-1869) Sixteen men are standing in the photograph. The fourth man from the right was Eicholtz.

Union Pacific Railway Company In 1868, Eicholtz became superintendent of bridge-building and remained with the project until its completion at Promontory Point and the Golden Spike event on May 10, 1869.

Civil War Soon after the beginning of the war with Fort Sumter, Eicholtz volunteered as an assistant engineer for military railroads in the Military Division of the Mississippi. Eicholtz worked to reconstruct railroads destroyed by the two armies during Sherman's campaign in Tennessee and Georgia and Sherman march from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Eicholtz left the Army in 1866 as acting chief engineer of military railroads of the Division of the Mississippi. Eicholtz died on January 3, 1911.