Park City High School is letting out this week and the students are on to their summers, plans for college, and such. Some will go on vacation, some will be playing sports, some will be studying, and some will be working.
What was it like to be a working student in Park City in the early 1950s? Let’s take a look at the answer to that from Robert and Carol Sawyer in an oral history from 2022.
Robert Sawyer (Bob): “I bought my first truck when I was 12 years old. It was an Army truck. I fixed it up and it was a four-wheel drive. I fixed it up and went up Deer Valley and learned how to drive it. I had a way of sneaking by the police station and going up to the canyon in the back there. By the time I was 14, then I drove it to high school. I was very lucky that I could drive. I could run a tractor and a caterpillar.
Bob’s father owned a coal delivery company, delivering coal for which was just one of Bob’s many jobs.
Bob: “[After] I got my first truck and so forth I delivered coal. I delivered groceries from three different places on Main Street. I delivered the Park Record. As I went up from where lived, up to the canyon, and Silver King Mine, I would take a load of coal. In that load two or three different things – groceries and the paper.”
Carol Sawyer: “The coal would be in bags, and he’d carry it over his shoulder, and it would cost the family $1.00.”
Bob: “100 pounds and I’d sell it for $1.00.”
Carol: “And sometimes they had the money to pay and sometimes they didn’t. So, when he’d come home and tell his dad ‘so and so didn’t have the money today,’ his dad would never say anything…. [J]ump to when his dad sold the business and retired, he forgave all the loans he’d given to people who couldn’t pay. They never had to pay their bill to Sawyer Construction and Coal business. That says a lot about a small community and somebody in business.”
Credit: Park City Historical Society & Museum, Kendall Webb Collection
Bob’s jobs helped him to get his car, participate in sports, and more.
Bob: “In high school – let’s say having a car at 14 years old and driving to school – a lot of that didn’t go over well because I guess I had too much. I paid $200 for my first car. I fixed it up.”
Carol: “He paid for all these things he had. His dad didn’t pay for those. But it also says how many jobs he did. His basketball, his football -. his dad didn’t pay for those. It also says how he earned money and had money.”
Bob: “I played basketball and track and baseball and football. I played all of those.”
The jobs sometime came with baggage, however, because Bob often had more money than his peers at the time.
Carol: “Go ahead and tell the story about being bullied.”
Bob: “Oh, because if you had too much, you’re somewhat bullied. There was a lot of jealousy. Because if I wanted to go to Salt Lake City – my grandmother gave me a card to a major department store.”
Carol: “Like a department store so he could buy his clothes.”
Bob: “So, I’d get on the bus to Salt Lake City and go down and have a – where the bus came in – there was a good place to eat and a good place to buy clothing. I was well-dressed in high school. There was a lot of jealousy – more than other people. But I worked more than other people. And Park City – if you go back to the Park Record – I set and made type and also… I delivered…. I did a lot of things, and the younger people didn’t have those opportunities.”
Congratulations to all of the PCHS graduates of 2025 from the Park City Museum!