William Eppelsheimer was born in Germany in 1842 and studied engineering at Polytechnic Institute of Karlsruhe, coming to San Francisco in 1869. After the success of the Clay Street Hill cable railroad, and after designing the Geary Street, Park and Ocean railroad in San Francisco (1880), he was chief engineer of the Highgate Hill cable tramway in London (1884), and drew plans for the Edinburgh Northern Tramway, but had moved back to Germany by 1886. The recipient, historian Theodore H. Hittell, apparently incorporated information from this letter in his History of California, published 1897.
From the description of William Eppelsheimer letter, Kaiserslautern, to Th. H. Hittel, Esq., 1895 Nov. 29. (San Francisco Public Library). WorldCat record id: 476380630
