December 8, 2013
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Crater of Diamonds 001
Across the United States, state parks offer many varied experiences for thousands of visitors. In our travels through the south last week we found a unique state park outdoor adventure that you won’t find anywhere else. Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is the only diamond-producing site in the world open to the public. Visitors can search a 37 ½-acre field for diamonds. The field is the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater. The diamonds are some of the best quality diamonds in the world and it is “Finders Keepers” no matter the value. Over 30,000 diamonds have been found since the park opened with the largest being 16 carats. In just the last couple of months two young kids found diamonds worth over $60,000.
Crater of Diamonds 002
Karla and I paid $7 each and decided to give it a try. The easiest method is to walk the field looking for the translucent glow of a diamond. That is how the two kids found their diamonds. I can see why kids are successful. Kids eyes are closer to the ground and they have sharper vision. It didn’t work for us.
Crater of Diamonds 004
The second way is to screen buckets of soil using water. We talked to several people using this method and tried it ourselves. The diamonds are heavier than the soil and end up on the bottom of the screen. When the screen is flipped the heavier items are in a circle in the middle of the pile. It is fun to do but time consuming. This man had worked all day and told us that the average find is one diamond the size of a match head in about 40 5-gallon buckets of gravel.
Crater of Diamonds 009
As the evening fog started to cover the nearby fields many diamond searching park visitors were heading to their cars. Even though they hadn’t found any diamonds everyone was happy with the experience. The happiest was a young man that had returned from Iraq. He had been blown up and lost the use of one arm. After four surgeries he has gotten the use of his arm back and had a spring in his step as he moved around the diamond field. Karla thanked him for his service.
We stopped at a local restaurant before leaving town (Buddy’s Hawg House Café). The waitress told us some diamond mining stories. The funniest was about a lady that had stopped at the restaurant and was disappointed that she hadn’t found any diamonds. As she went to pay for her meal she felt something in the sole of her shoe. She reached down and found a diamond stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Needless to say I searched through the mud stuck to Karla’s shoes.
