Date of Visit: 16 March 2024
Murfreesboro, AR
65º by noon, foggy morning to clear skies
Park 24, Crater of Diamonds, pops up in local news from time to time. The park draws people from all over the world as it offers one of the only public-access areas for surface-level diamond mining. In fact, in January, Julien Navas of France came to Arkansas and found a 7.46 carat diamond! Of course, this park ranked at the top of my most anticipated list. Having heard about these kinds of finds for years in the media, I hit the road, ready to capture a headline myself. I brought my trusty hiking hat and buckets of sunscreen for skin protection, my rubber garden boots to slog through the muddy field (it had rained a few days earlier), and forgot my gloves for wet sluicing. Luckily, Murfreesboro Hardware provided a great selection and was right on the way to the park.
I chose to visit the park on the first Saturday of Spring Break because park interpreters offered some extra programming, one being a “daybreak” tour of the field. I arrived at 7:45am (doors open at 8:00), and walked in about 10th in line to pay my $15 for the chance to find a sparkly. The line for entrance was at least 30 people deep by 8:00, with tons of families, and continued in that vein all morning (pun intended!). Winding down to the equipment rental station, I paid $15 to rent my “Basic Diamond Hunting Kit”: an army shovel, screen set, and 3.5-gallon bucket. Then, I turned to observe “the field,” 37.5 acres of volcanic spew and churned up crust. The “spew” contains ash as well as the diamonds and semi-precious stones like amethyst (go to Canary Hill to find these), agate, jasper, quartz, and calcite to name a few. Of course, there is plenty of mud, sand, and gravel to sift through in search of the gems brought up from the deep. This picture is “first of the day.” The photos I took later show several hundred people (about 50% kids) ranged all around the rows plowed by park staff, doing their best to claim a find.
On my tour, I learned that the average diamond found in the park is 1/4 carat or less, roughly the size of a match head. The park interpreter showed us examples of these finds in the three colors of diamonds produced by this eruption: white, yellow, and brown. Being on this journey to get to know Arkansas via the parks, I found the history of this one just as fascinating as the rest.
Apparently, people had always pointed out the strange ground and how its little stones glittered. Rumor of diamonds abounded until the early 20th century when a pig farmer who owned some of the land finally tried to bank some diamonds. The stones didn’t quite look right, so the bankers sent them to Tiffany’s in NYC, where they were confirmed to be diamonds, just of a different sort than those produced by the geologic forces in South Africa and elsewhere. Arkansas diamonds took an unusual ride to the surface. Instead of getting here all in one shot, the volcano had to erupt twice, many, many years apart. So the diamonds actually melted! Arkansas diamonds are smooth and round. The interpreter told us to look for shiny marbles. Who knew diamonds could melt? While unusual, the larger diamonds can be cut for gemstones. Fortunately for us, there aren’t enough of them to make the mine commercially viable, although folx tried from the 20s to the 50s. Then, one person bought the whole property and opened a pay-as-you-go, amateur experience, just like what the State Parks operate today. They acquired the land in 1972 and simply continued the system.
Later, after scooping up gravel and mud and hauling it in my bucket, I stood at the sluicing station. A fellow sluicer, who had done much more research than me, let me know that the field only gives up 2 diamonds per day on average, again all quite small. I laughed and admitted I was in it for the experience more than anything else. The range of people, their experience and their expectations, ended up as my biggest takeaway of the day. There were folx who hauled in professional looking rigs of equipment (no motorized anything allowed), hobbyists who shared their knowledge with anyone who wanted to listen, and a whole ton of kids shouting “I found one! I found one!”
Best thing to keep in mind: summer brings massive heat, heat, heat, and there’s no shade on the field. This park makes an excellent winter visit. And my results? Drumroll…no diamonds. Park staff identify finds for free at a sorting table, and I did find jasper, clacite, agate, and volcanic ash (along with tons of small bits of sandstone alas). Granted, going alone makes it a bit extra hard work. Next time, I’ll take a pal to help with the hauling of dirt.
Next up: Millwood
