WARNING! I used all 10 fingers to type this post, so it's a long one! 
In January 1947, companion bills were introduced in the House and Senate that called for the striking of 50-cent pieces "in commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the entrance of the Utah pioneers into Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847."
The House bill was introduced by Representative William Adams Dawson (R-UT) and was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency. Senator Arthur Vivian Watkins (R-UT) introduced the Senate bill; it was also referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency.
(Note: In 1946, the responsibilities of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures were re-organized into the Committee on Banking and Currency which henceforth served both chambers of Congress regarding coinage/currency matters.)After years of religious persecution in the eastern United States, the Mormon community desired a place of their own to freely practice their beliefs. In 1846-47, Brigham Young led a group of 148 Mormons on an arduous journey west. The group found their new home in the Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah; July 24, 1847 is believed to be the date the group entered the valley.
Young is credited as the being founder of Salt Lake City and was the governor of the Utah Territory from February 3, 1851 to April 12, 1858; he was the territory's first governor.
The Utah State Legislature created the Utah Centennial Commission in March 1939, with an effective date of July 24, 1939; the Commission had 15 members. Listed among the Commission's duties was "commemorate the advent of the pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, to portray fittingly the natural resources and scenic wonders of Utah, the prehistoric culture of the west, the development of irrigation, farming, mining, forestry, transportation, culture and the arts."
At its first meeting, on September 17, 1939, the Commission agreed to pursue a commemorative half dollar as part of the planned Utah Centennial celebrations. As it had plenty of lead time of the coin, the Commission pursued other matters for the centennial's observance. In 1946, attentions returned to the coin and led to the introduction of the companion bills in January 1947.
The bills called for up to 500,000 50-cent pieces of the same size, weight and composition as the US circulating half dollar with a commemorative design to be set by the Director of the Mint. The sponsor of the coin was specified as the State of Utah and the bill limited the delivery of the coins to the State Treasurer. As with other commemorative coinage bills, the sponsor was to be charged the face value for each coin and was authorized to distribute them at face value or above. The Utah Legislature expected the coins to be purchased from the Mint by the Utah Centennial Commission.
The bills did not restrict coining to a single US Mint facility, but they did specify that the coins were to be dated in the year struck and that they could only be issued in calendar year 1947 - this combination of provisions effectively limited the coins to a single date - 1947.
To mask the potential coin's religious connection to Brigham Young and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church), the legislation proposing the coinage make no mention of either - the anniversary being commemorated was simply identified as the arrival of 'generic' pioneers in Utah.
To help encourage/convince Congress and the President to approve its coin, the Utah State Legislature, prepared a memorial that was sent to President Truman and the Senate. (A "memorial" is a request to Congress, often from a state legislature, that it take some action; in this case, the action was approve the Utah Pioneers coin proposal.) The Memorial included. "Whereas the occasion [the Utah Centennial] is of such great Interest and importance to the people of the State of Utah and of the United States as to warrant the coinage of an appropriate memorial United States coin."
An interesting facet for the Memorial is its stated request for 200,000 coins vs. the 500,000 requested in each of the bills. A preemptive bargaining chip inserted by Utah's US Representative and Senator? Ask for 500,000 but be willing to
accept 200,000 if objection is raised?
The House bill did not progress, but the Senate bill was favorably reported out of Committee and considered by the full Senate. It was passed by the Senate, but went no further. After President Truman vetoed the Wisconsin Statehood Centennial bill, the Commission decided that their bill had little chance of being approved. As a result, they dropped their pursuit of a coin and began planning a privately-struck commemorative medal.
The medal was to be bronze in composition and be the size of a US half dollar. Avard Fairbanks had been hired by the Commission to develop the designs (front and back) for the official Centennial Emblem. The designs were to be used for the medal. Unfortunately, the firm contracted by the Commission to produce the medals did such a poor job with the samples that the Commission believed it would be best to cancel the medal program. So, while there were official philatelic commemoratives for the Centennial (a US postage stamp, a Poster/Cinderella stamp), there were no official numismatic pieces.
Shown here are the designs prepared by Fairbanks for the emblem; as they were considered for the Commission's medal, it's possible that they might have been considered for the proposed half dollar. The front design was used on the official Poster/Cinderella stamp of the Commission.
1947 Utah Centennial Official Emblem Designs
(Image Credit: 1947 Utah Centennial Commission. General Report, 1948.)For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection. 
Posted 03/26/2022 10:09 pm
