Grand Canyon National Park Quarter
Believed to be due out in the second half of 2010 is the fourth quarter to be released under the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The Arizona 2010 Grand Canyon National Park Quarter will be emblematic of a park that draws almost 5 million visitors a year.
A final quarter design has yet to be chosen to honor the Grand Canyon, although several have been created by the United States Mint and offered up for review. (See all four design candidates below.)
As the Grand Canyon was also featured on the Arizona State Quarter (which was released in 2008), design submissions for the America the Beautiful program had to looks for ways to be different. With this in mind, the two bodies given the duty to recommend a final design for all US coins have made their opinions known for the quarter-dollar.
In a departure from the recommendations they made for the first three coins of the series, both groups chose the same design of the Grand Canyon, one known as AZ-01. It is a canyon level view of the river as well as the canyon walls.
 Grand Canyon Park Quarter Design AZ-01 (Click to Enlarge) |
 Grand Canyon Park Quarter Design AZ-02 (Click to Enlarge) |
 Grand Canyon Park Quarter Design AZ-03 (Click to Enlarge) |
 Grand Canyon Park Quarter Design AZ-04 (Click to Enlarge) |
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee commented that design AZ-01 gave a “more immediate, human-scaled view of the canyon.”
The United States Commission of Fine Arts also liked the design but made a few recommendations including shifting the view slightly to the left to allow for a deeper perspective.
With both recommendations in hand, the US Mint will announce the final design along with the release date for the Grand Canyon quarter at a later date.
Grand Canyon National Park information
Cutting into the terrain for an estimated 5 million years, the Colorado River is given the honor of having created the vistas of the Grand Canyon. In addition, wind and rain have also played a part.
It was not until the mid 1850’s that the canyon came under any major interest, although it had been visited for thousands of years by Native Americans, of course. Then, in the course of a few decades, several expeditions were dispatched to the area, some of which were military in nature.
In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell led the first credible scientific exploration of the canyon when he took nine men and four boats down the Colorado River. Two years later he repeated the expedition, this time taking along a photographer.
It was not until 1906 that the area received any sort of federal protection when President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a Federal Game Preserve. Then in 1908 it became a National Monument, with the National Park status attained in 1919.
Today, most park visitors enjoy the view and facilities of the Park on the South Rim, which remains open year round. The North Rim is only open in the summer months due to the snows received in the area.