YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK COMMEMORATIVE SILVER DOLLAR FACT SHEET
President Ulysses S. Grant created Yellowstone Park in 1872, the first in America's National Park system.
Since 1948, the park has played host to more than one million visitors a year and in 1998, that attendance tripled. These visitors come to see the park's hundreds of lakes, creeks, mountains, valleys, famous geysers and hot springs. The most famous of the park's geysers is "Old Faithful," so named because of the regularity of its eruptions. Yellowstone - which comes from the Minnetaree Indian word for "Rock Yellow River" - has 290 species of birds, including some especially rare species such as the peregrine falcon and the whooping crane.
The obverse, designed by Edgar Z. Steever, IV, shows a spouting geyser with the park's tree-lined landscape in the background. Steever also designed or modeled more than 40 medals on topics such as the U.S. Constellation; the Central Intelligence Agency; Frank Lloyd Wright; the American Red Cross; and several Secretaries of the Treasury. In addition to the Yellowstone commemorative, his credits include the Statue of Liberty Clad Half Dollar obverse; Bicentennial of the Congress Clad Half Dollar (modeled the reverse); White House Silver Dollar obverse; Prisoner of War Silver Dollar reverse; Civil War Silver Dollar (modeled the obverse); 1995 Olympic Baseball Clad Half Dollar obverse; and the 1996 Olympic Swimmer Clad Half Dollar.
The reverse, designed by William C. Cousins, shows an American Buffalo on the plains with a sun rising above the mountains in the background. In addition to the 1999 Yellowstone National Park Commemorative Silver Dollar, Cousins has worked on the Mount Rushmore Gold Five Dollar reverse; the USO Silver Dollar obverse; 1995 Olympic Soccer Clad Half Dollar obverse; 1996 Olympic Stadium Gold Five Dollar obverse. He has designed and sculptured the 1992 Olympic Clad Half Dollar obverse; the Bicentennial of the Capitol Silver Dollar obverse; the Botanic Garden Silver Dollar reverse; the Jackie Robinson Gold Five Dollar obverse; the National Community Service Silver Dollar reverse and the Delaware reverse for the 50 States Quarter Program.
