The final verdict is in, and the iron horse beats snowboarders and bees.

Utahns overwhelmingly chose to have the completion of the transcontinental railroad on the state's commemorative quarter. The other contenders were a beehive, the state symbol, or a woman snowboarding.

Since 1999, the U.S. Mint has been issuing quarters commemorating each of the 50 states, going in order of their admission to the union. The coins feature a unique design on the reverse highlighting a particular state. New Jersey, for example, had Washington crossing the Delaware in 1776, while Ohio's featured the Wright brother's airplane and an astronaut, highlighting it as the birthplace Orville Wright and space pioneers John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.

Utah's quarter will be released next year. The "Wedding of the Rails" is the most fitting scene to put on Utah's quarter.

The Mint's rules for the design eliminated many of Utah's trademark icons -- the Salt Lake Temple, the Seagull Monument -- because they have religious significance. The design had to be secular to include everyone.

While Delicate Arch has become the motif for the state's license plates, it may not have translated well to the back of a quarter, and many people outside Utah may not know about it.

The beehive and snowboarder designs were nice but generic. Bees can be found throughout most of the United States, and Utahns do not have the monopoly on winter sports.

Of the three designs offered, the railroad was a unique moment in both Utah and American history.

The transcontinental railroad is what made Utah the place it is today. Before May 10, 1869, the only way to get here was an arduous overland trek from Nebraska across the Rockies to the Great Basin, or an equally difficult slog across the Sierra Nevada from California.

Once the railroad was established, people could come to Utah in a matter of days in relative comfort. The railroad opened Utah to the world, beginning its transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial one. The railroad kick-started Utah's mining industry by making it easier to haul ore from the mines of Park City and the Oquirrhs, and it allowed miners and equipment to come into the state from either coast.

The railroad helped open the rest of the American West to settlers and development, and led to the development of national parks such as Yellowstone. Rail travel made it easier to see the natural wonders that only Indians and mountain men were able to get to before.

The Golden Spike represented one of the 19th century's greatest technological achievements. Rail workers, including many Irish and Chinese immigrants, chiseled and blasted their way through mountains, spanned rivers and canyons with trestles and nailed home thousands of miles of iron rail to straddle the nation.

When Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific Railroad, attempted to drive the ceremonial gold spike (he actually missed it with his hammer, and another man had to do the job) a milestone of technology moved forever into the history books.

And it all came together on the windswept plain at Promontory, Utah.

The new quarter design truly represents Utah as the crossroads of the west, both geographically and historically.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A5.

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