To the editor:
I read with interest Chad Lawhorn's article on Jan. 3 about the Cooper-Bessemer engines in Ottawa. I have a special interest in this project, since my organization, the Tod Engine Foundation, would take custodianship of one of those engines should Tim Christoff's request to preserve the engines be granted. Six years ago this same group of people advocating the preservation of the Cooper-Bessemers assisted me in preserving a much larger 300-ton steam engine from a steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio. It is now a national historic landmark and will be placed on exhibit soon.
I would like to see one of the Cooper-Bessemer engines returned to Ohio where it was built and restored as an operating exhibit. We feel that dismantling the engines ourselves, by experienced and capable volunteers, is preferable to lining the pockets of a scrap firm, which is not geared toward removal of machinery for reuse. Paying $10,000 to $20,000 to a scrapper when we could do the same job for $5,000 would be taking away donated funds that would be much better used to pay for restoring and operating the engines. Funds donated by people not only in Kansas but from literally all over the U.S.
Rick Rowlands,
Ottawa, Ohio
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