Alaska America the Beautiful Quarter
The Alaska America the Beautiful Quarter will be the fifth design released for the year 2012, completing the third year of the series featuring National Park and National Sites of America. In the prior State Quarters Program, the state of Alaska had been featured second to last. It comes early in the sequence for the new program since releases are determined by the date an area came under federal protection.
Denali National Park will be featured on the quarter. An image from the park, possibly Mount McKinley will be featured on the reverse of the coin with a portrait of George Washington on the obverse of the coin.
The prospective designs and final selection for the Denali National Park Quarter probably won’t be known until late in 2011 or early in 2012. The US Mint typically produces candidate designs for review by various entities before the Treasury Secretary makes the final decision.
About Denali National Park
As a people, Americans have always been adventurous and restless. The early pioneers were never content to live out their lives in comfortable cities and towns. These people yearned for adventure, and viewed the wild western United States as a challenge waiting to be conquered. About as far from the Eastern cities and town as you can go, lies the untamed wilds of Alaska. With its extreme temperatures and amazing landscape, you can image why Alaska has always called to the hearts of the adventurers.
The first people to make the trip in to the wilds of Alaska were those that were hunting for gold. In the summer of 1905, prospectors by the name of Joe Quigley and Jack Horn had found enough gold in Glacier Creek to start writing home about it, and many gold rushers eager to make their fortune soon flocked to the area.
Almost as important to the history of Alaska’s Denali region as gold prospecting, many came to the area to test their brawn against the giant, unforgiving mountains. Mt. McKinley is the largest mountain in the continental United States, and many have tried to conquer it only to turn back with frozen fingers and bruised egos.
In 1917, the federal government officially recognized the beauty that was contained in the wilderness of the Denali region, and formed Mt. McKinley National Park. This would eventually become known as Denali National Park, a place for Americans to come and ponder their contribution to society in the shadow of the mighty mountains.
