DENVER – No one among the 25-member Utah delegation attending Monday’s ceremonial striking of the state’s commemorative quarter at the U.S. Mint here was happier than Bruce Griggs, president of the Utah Numismatic Society.

“It’s been a very anxious time since I began collecting all the state quarters,” said Griggs, a senior master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. “I just wish more kids were here because it’s a great medium to teach children about geography.”

The quarter depicts the historic joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad lines at Promontory, Utah, in May 1869, when the “golden spike” was driven, completing the transcontinental railroad route.

The coin design shows two locomotives nose-to-nose with the spike between the two engines, and the words ”CROSSROADS OF THE WEST” etched above the trains.

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