Winning A Motor Car In Vermilion

December 1913 was a good month for Annie McLay. It was in that month that she won a big prize thanks to her hard work.

For two months previous, the Edmonton Bulletin had been running a contest to see who among their employees could get the most subscribers signing up for the newspaper.

McLay, who was from Vermilion, won thanks to her immense drive to win.

She spent six weeks traveling through the northern part of the province as far as she could go, and then down to southern Alberta just to sell newspaper subscriptions.

She said there were some nights when she did not sleep at all as she wanted to win the grand prize of an automobile. She said,

“There was no luck about it at all.”

At one point, she travelled on a hand car for 70 kilometres, when the weather wasn’t too bad. Another time, she rode on the pilot of an engine because she wanted to reach every subscriber that she possibly could.

She added about her work to win,

“I am proud of the fact that I was very seldom turned down when I asked people to subscribe to the Bulletin. In my own home town of Vermilion, of course, where everybody knows us, it was a very easy matter and when they knew I was a candidate my friends came forward and subscribed.”

Other people who competed won a player piano, and there were four trips to Montreal up for grabs. Dozens of people took part and waited to hear the results.

McLay was asked what she would do with an automobile, which was a McLaughlin-Buick. She said,

“What will I do with the automobile? Sell it? Not a bit of it. I intend to keep it for my own use and I look forward to very many happy hours in the handsome machine.”

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