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The
Arkansas quarter is the fifth and final
quarter of 2003, and the 25th in the 50
State Quarters® Program. Arkansas was
admitted into the Union on June 15, 1836.
Arkansas was acquired through the Louisiana
Purchase and later became the Arkansas
Territory before gaining statehood. The
Arkansas quarter design bears the image of
rice stalks, a diamond and a mallard
gracefully flying above a lake.
It is fitting that the "Natural State,"
Arkansas's official nickname, chose images
of natural resources. Arkansas has an
abundance of clear streams, rivers and
lakes. In fact, Arkansas has more than
600,000 acres of natural lakes. Arkansas is
also known for its sportsmanship and boasts
mallard hunting as a main attraction for
hunters across the
nation.
Visitors to Arkansas can
search Crater of Diamonds State Park for
precious gems including, of course,
diamonds. The mine at Crater of Diamonds
State Park reportedly is the oldest diamond
mine in North America, and the only one in
the United States open to the
public-visitors get to keep what they find.
Visitors can also experience "Rice Fever"
in Arkansas-just the way W.H. Fuller did
when he grew the first commercially
successful rice crop in Arkansas. Soon
after, thousands of acres of the Grand
Prairie were changed to cultivate rice, and
Arkansas became the leading producer of the
grain in the United States.
In January 2001, Governor Mike Huckabee
announced the Arkansas Quarter Challenge as
a statewide competition. A two-week media
tour promoting the Challenge resulted in
9,320 entries. After several rounds of
elimination, the Governor forwarded three
concepts to the United States Mint,
including Arkansas' natural resources and
the State Capitol building. The United
States Mint provided four candidate designs
based on the concepts to the Governor from
which he chose the natural resources
design.
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The Arkansas quarter depicts
the image of rice stalks, a diamond
and a mallard gracefully flying above
a lake.
United States Mint
image
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To
learn even more about the
State Quarters Program, please
visit,
The United States
Mint
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