James P. Kirkwood

James Pugh Kirkwood (27 March 1807 – 22 April 1877) was a 19th-century American civil engineer, and general superintendent of the Erie Railroad in the year 1849-1850. He left the Erie to go to the southwest to construct railroads, and he made the first survey for the Pacific Railroad west from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. Late 1860s he served as President of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Kirkwood was born in Edinburgh, Scotland He graduated at the Edinburgh College, and learned civil engineering on the Boston and Albany Railroad, an early work from which a number of engineers and contractors came to the Erie when it was building.

Kirkwood had come to the United States in 1832 with letters to McNeill, who arranged work for him on the Norwich Worcester Railroad. He served on the Boston & Providence Railroad, and in 1835 became Assistant Engineer of the Stonington Railroad. In that same year he surveyed the route for the Long Island Rail Road, which was opened from the foot of Atlantic street to Hicksville in 1837. He had charge of the construction of that road until operations were stopped by the panic of 1837.

In 1840 Kirkwood was Resident Engineer on the Mountain Division of the Western Rail Road., where he remained until its completion in 1843. He located and constructed the Springfield & Northampton Rail Road. In 1848 he completed the Starrucca Viaduct as Superintendent in one season; The Starrucca Viaduct near Lanesboro, Pennsylvania, considered to be the most expensive railroad bridge at the time, as well as the largest stone viaduct, and for its first use of concrete in American bridge construction. This success led to his appointment as General Superintendent of the Erie Railroad in April 1, 1849, where he succeeded Hezekiah C. Seymour.

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