Utah rolls out its quarter

U.S. currency got a boost of steam power Friday at the Rio Grande Depot in Salt Lake City.

Hundreds of people packed the pavilion behind the depot to watch the introduction of America's newest shiny round thing: the Utah quarter. The crowd included more than 2,000 schoolchildren, all of whom received a commemorative edition of the new coin, which features an artistic depiction of the driving of the golden spike in Utah to complete the nation's first transcontinental railroad, back in 1869.

The unveiling had the revelry and bombast of a political rally, with a speech by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a performance of the national anthem by the American Fork High School marching band, and the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance by first-graders from Franklin Elementary.

Fourth-graders from Bonneville Elementary capped the event with an energetic performance of the song "Iron Wheels a Rollin'," which recounts the meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific trains at Promontory Summit in Utah's Box Elder County. Wendy Petersen, a teacher, said that rehearsing for the song and the new coin has piqued the interest of the children in the historic connection of the transcontinental railroad.

"We study the railroad, which is part of the fourth-grade curriculum," she said. Because of six weeks of practice, "we've been talking a lot about how the railroads met and the stories that go with it."

Huntsman, during his brief speech to the raucous crowd, said that the coin not only told a story about Utah's past, it also spoke to the long, and still thriving, tradition of Utah innovation, and would spread that message to the hundreds of millions of people who will eventually see the coin.

"We're celebrating a coin, a quarter, that will go to citizens around the world," he said. "It will represent the state very well."

The design for the new quarter was one of thousands of submissions from people, and it was chosen by the general population in online voting, said Gloria Eskridge, associate director of the U.S. Mint, who attended the festivities at the depot. The quarter is part of a coin series, the 50 States collection, which has been a boon to the U.S. Mint.

"We have never had a coin collection printed that is this popular," she said. "It really speaks to the love of our country."

Marla Young, a Salt Lake mother who home-schools her children, agreed with the popularity of the quarters. Their family has two sets of the quarters released so far, and they attended the event Friday.

"We wanted to be part of history," she said. "This was entertaining, and it was educational."

KUED's Ken Verdoia, who was the master of ceremonies, said that more than just aiding commerce, the Utah quarter fosters a sense of place for the state's residents.

"A coin is something more than what we flip before a football game or feed into a parking meter," he said. "If you have this coin in your pocket now, it is history and it is art."

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com