American-Abell Engine and Thresher Co. Ltd.

John Abell was so impressed that he named his new separator the 'Cock O' The North' and incorporated the story and illustrations of the epic feat in his catalog. The American-Abell firm went further by adopting a game rooster on a stump as its trademark, and calling the output the 'Cock O' The North' line. The American-Abell engines had the figure of a rooster cast in the smoke box door.

The sands of time run out for all men. In 1902 this energetic man was in his 80th year, with no family and in failing health. Consequently the big Abell factory had to be sold. He lived until August 7th, 1903, long enough to see that his name would continue to be associated with threshing machinery for years to come.

American-Abell 20 HP steam traction engine built in 1905 by the American-Abell Engine and Thresher Co., Ltd., Toronto, Ontario and owned by Bill Johnson of Ontario, Canada.

Photo taken at Norwich and District Historical Society's Show at Norwich, Ontario by Jack C. Norbeck, author of Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines and included in the 3rd revised edition. See article about the American-Abell firm in this issue.

In 1902 the Advance Thresher and the Minneapolis Threshing Machine jointly purchased the John Abell plant in Toronto, and renamed it the American-Abell Engine and Thresher Company Limited. Although American owned, the new company immediately adopted the policy of 'Canadian-made goods for Canadian users' and continued without interruption to build the threshing machinery formerly manufactured by the John Abell Engine and Machine Works Co.

When the great Rumely merger took place in 1912, the American-Abell factory was included and the 'Cock O' the North' line was discontinued.

No further engines were built. The boiler of the last steam traction engine shipped west served as a heating plant for the Allis-Chalmers-Rumely building in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company built a total of nearly 2,500 farm engines, the majority of which went to the Canadian West where the Cock O' the North line was a famous name.