Money Maker

No, not talking about Wall Street or starting your own business; we're talking about the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), where they make the actual paper bills you use to buy stuff. Most people don't know there are only two of these in the world where all the American paper bills are made - Washington, D.C. and Fort Worth, Texas, and both offer free tours (Tuesday - Friday, 8:30 - 4:30) where you will learn all kinds of interesting information and actually watch money being made.

If you do decide to take a tour, be aware you will have to leave your camera and smartphones at home or in your car (parking at the facility is free and is fenced and guarded) as there is absolutely no photographs allowed inside the facility. Don't think you can sneak one in either as you will have to enter the building through a metal detector just like at the airport except the guards are very diligent about watching the x-ray machines and the metal detector is turned up  to catch anything metal. Although the guards are friendly and helpful, they are extremely watchful and they are everywhere! Follow the rules and you are guaranteed to have an interesting and very informative time!

Here are just a few money tidbits:

All of the bills are designed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (part of the U.S. Treasury) by professional artists. After the overall design is approved, the artwork must go through a lengthy approval process by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Reserve Banks, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the U.S Secret Service. Once it's a go, certified Engravers using specialized tools carve the drawings into metal plates. To be a certified Engraver requires ten years of study and work as an apprentice!

It takes 4 weeks to produce a bill from the start of its life as a sheet of highly specialized blank cotton and linen paper to being finished currency.

In 2018, it costs 5.6 cents to print a $1 dollar bill. The cost for the larger denominations is: 11 cents for a $5 dollar bill, 11.7 cents for a $10, 10.8 cents for the $20, 12.9 cents for a $50 and 13.2 cents for the $100.

Denominations larger than the $100 bill were last issued in 1969.

The motto "In God We Trust" only became a part of the design of paper money by an act of Congress in 1955.

You can fold a piece of paper currency forward then backward about 4,000 times before it will tear.

The estimated life span of a $1 bill is 5.8 years; 5.5 years for a $5 bill; 4.5 years for a $10, 7.9 years for a $20, 8.5 years for a $50 and 115 years for a $100.

The design of the $1 bill has not changed in more than 50 years, longer than any other denomination.

A picture of Thomas Jefferson is on the front of the $2 bill. Before he became president, he wrote the Declaration of Independence. That is why there is a famous painting about the Declaration of Independence on the back.

Alexander Hamilton is on the front of the $10 bill. He was the first person to run the U.S. Treasury, which is why there is a picture of the Treasury Building on the back. The $10 bill is one of only two bills that do not have a picture of a president on them. The other? The $100 bill with Benjamin Franklin's picture. One of the many things he is famous for is printing some of America's first bills.

As of December 31, 2017, there was $1,571.1 billion in circulation, totaling 41.6 billion notes in volume.

For the year 2019, the Federal Reserve ordered 7,046,400,000 individual bills to be printed with a total of $206,905,600,000 in dollar value.

The facility in Fort Worth completes the production of bills at the rate of approximately 18 million notes per day worth approximately $31 million.

Visitors who take the tour will enjoy two floors of interactive exhibits and displays showcasing the history of paper currency and the production process. Before starting the tour, be sure to watch the educational film "How Money is Made" in the theater. 

The facility is located at 9000 Blue Mound Road, Fort Worth, TX 76131. For more information, call (866) 865-1194.

The Anonymous Moon Tree

There's a loblolly pine tree next to the Sebastian County Courthouse in Ft. Smith, Arkansas that has traveled where few humans have ever gone. The tree, planted in a ceremony on Arbor Day in 1976, was a sprout from one of about 400 seeds Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa carried to the moon and back in February 1971. Arborists call it a "moon tree."

Unfortunately, few people know anything about the significance of the tree. There's no marker, no historical placard, no informational sign at all so even most of the folks who work at the courthouse, tourist information workers, and public information workers are unaware of the tree's history. And so it stayed anonymous until not that long ago when a public information officer for the Arkansas Forestry Commission arrived in town asking about it.

The information he brought with him proved the seed of the tree was one carried to the moon by Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smokejumper. A mostly unknown story is that when Roosa returned from space, the packets of seeds exploded during decontamination procedures. Scientists said the seeds were dead after being in space and undergoing decontamination. But then, just to be sure, a few of the seeds were planted in starter containers. The "experts" were surely surprised when the seeds proved to be unexpectedly hardy and sprouted! 

After proof of life, some of the seeds were planted in a patch of ground next to earth-bound seeds of the same variety for NASA to study and determine if seeds in space grew any different. Almost 50 years later, no difference has been evident. A large number of the space seeds were given to various Forest Services regional offices and Arbor Day groups to be planted around the nation during ceremonies celebrating the national Bicentennial Year.

All together, Arkansas received four of the space seeds and all were planted at the same time. In addition to the Fort Smith tree, one was planted at the Forestry Services office in Little Rock, one in Monticello and the other was planted in Old Washington Historic State Park in Hope. The Little Rock tree and the Monticello tree died in the mid-1990s from root nematodes. Both the Washington State Park and Fort Smith trees remain in good health and are available for you to touch, hug and take a selfie with a living entity that has been to the moon!