Collector Specializes in Ottawa Engines

Enlarge Image Image Gallery "You can always tell an Ottawa," Jerry Swanson says. "They just stand out."

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For Jerry Swanson, family comes first – even when you're talking engines. 

Jerry began tinkering with engines as a grade school student.

"We had a couple of Maytags we bought for about $10," he says. "We really thought we had something."

As he grew older, the collection also grew: Lots of engines, lots of manufacturers. But about 15 years ago, when he discovered a family tie to a Kansas engine manufacturer, he sold the bulk of his collection and began to specialize in one line: Ottawa Engines.

"I had a distant relation by marriage," he said, connecting him to the Warner family that founded the Ottawa Engine Company. "And, I grew up near Ottawa, Kan."

The Ottawa line, he says, has a unique appeal.

"In the 40 I have, there's something different about every one," he says. "They kept changing them all the time. Some of the machine work is kind of crude, but you can always tell an Ottawa; they just stand out."

Once he decided to specialize, he jumped in with both feet. He did extensive research on the Ottawa company, though his efforts were hampered by both fire and flood in the company's early years.

"All the records are gone," he says. "It's been pretty hard to research."

The hunt for engines was equally challenging. Today, Jerry has a collection of nearly 40 Ottawa's, all different. One of his favorites is a single cylinder dating to about 1913. He found the engine at an auction in southeast Kansas.

"I called to make sure what it was," he said. "It had been in the man's family since he was a kid, and he was in his 80s when he had the sale."

The engine had been stored in a barn, and later in a chicken house. It wasn't stuck, but a small piece was missing.

"The boss that holds the cam gear was broken, and a piece of it was gone," Jerry says. "I talked to the guy who'd sold it, and he said I could go look in the chicken house. So I dug through the layers of straw and hay and stuff, and I found it.

"The piece was just the size of a quarter, but it wasn't a real big chicken house," he says. "I found it in about 10 or 15 minutes."

Restoration of the engine was not complicated.

"It didn't require any machine work," Jerry says. A sign craftsman by trade, he did the pin-striping and painting himself. But he was careful to preserve original paint on the front of the hopper.

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