The Northwest Carriage Museum has added a 53rd horse-drawn vehicle to its collection: a 1901 kerosene wagon.

It was used to deliver kerosene to rural residents of Iowa around the beginning of the 20th century. The wagon was pulled by a single horse and traveled 12 to 15 miles each day on its delivery routes.

“Back then, there were no gas stations. Instead, there were storage stations throughout the country where tanker wagons picked up fuel and then proceeded to deliver it to customers,” said Carriage Museum curator Jerry Bowman. “Tank wagons varied in size from 300 to 900 gallons and transported kerosene, gasoline and fuel oil.”

The museum had acquired a much larger tank wagon from Minnesota two years ago, and Bowman was preparing to start a full restoration of that piece. In December, a collector in Oklahoma let him know he had a smaller tank wagon available that already had been restored. After many conversations, Bowman and the collector agreed to trade wagons, plus a few other items.

“I am thrilled for many reasons,” said Bowman. “First, this smaller wagon is a much better fit for our museum and only requires some minor upkeep. Second, it would have been a two-year project to restore the larger wagon. And finally, this leaves me time to work on the three other historic vehicles currently in my shop.”

The Carriage Museum is open daily year-round, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit www.nwcarriagemuseum.org or call 360-942-4150 for information.

(Photo by Laurie Bowman) Curator Jerry Bowman loads up the larger tank wagon to ship to the Oklahoma collector in trade for his new acquisition.