Keep Whatever You Find at the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas

Can you believe, there’s a diamond mine, where you can keep whatever you find? Keep Whatever You Find at the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas. This interesting diamond crater is located in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, United States. This is the only diamond mine open to the public, where you’ve to just pay a little amount as an entrance fee.

The people use to look into areas for diamonds and keep what they find. Actually, this crater is 37-acre land that has been plowed into fine dirt by hundreds of thousands of amateur prospectors who dig through the dirt every year and search for exquisite stones.

However, few visitors use an exclusive sieve known as a “seruca” to rinse and separate the heavier diamonds from the lighter debris. While, others just get down on their knees and hands, and claw at the dirt looking for the faint reflection of jewels in the furrows. Therefore, over one hundred years since its discovery, the exclusive Crater of Diamonds has yielded countless diamonds and other semi-precious gems including the 40-carat “Uncle Sam”, the biggest diamond ever discovered in the United States.

The interesting facts as per Park officials, visitors frequently come here and find over 600 diamonds each year of all colors and grades, and over 31,000 diamonds have been found in the crater since it was declared a state park in 1972.

The precious diamonds that come about in the Crater of Diamonds formed 3 billion years ago in the earth’s mantle some 60-100 miles below the earth’s surface where the remarkable pressures and temperatures crystalized them from carbon.

Thus, almost more than 100 million years ago, a rising column of magma brought this material near to the surface where it shattered in a large volcano producing an almost 80-acre crater and covering the surrounding landscape with ejecta, which were several fragments of mantle rock that were carried up to the surface with the rising magma.

These fragments are recognized as “xenoliths” and they contained diamonds. As time passes, atmospheric weathering conditions over the years eroded away the ejecta and parted the stable and very resistant diamonds in the soil. However, diamonds are often found loose in the soil along with other semi-precious gems such as amethyst, jasper, and agate. In 1906, John Huddlestone found diamonds for the very first time and discovered two strange crystals in the soil of his farm.

Though, Huddlestone assumed that his crystals might be precious diamonds and took them to a local jeweler for valuation who confirmed them to be genuine diamonds. Hence after the discovery, a “diamond rush” was instigated and thousands of people descended upon the Murfreesboro area. However, Huddleston wasn’t fascinated by diamond mining himself, so he sold the land to a group of investors for $36,000.

They’ve tried several attempts at commercial mining which failed, the possessions were opened for public pay-to-prospect mining in the early 1950s and the name was changed to the “Crater of Diamonds”. Therefore, The State of Arkansas bought the land in 1972 and started operating it as “Crater of Diamonds State Park.”

Although, most of the diamonds discovered here are very small, about the size of a kitchen match head, and even too small to be cut and mounted as a stone, rarely do tourists turn up with diamonds of over three or five carats which worth is thousands of dollars. So, if you’re keen on the diamond find, you may go to Crater of Diamonds State Park and try your luck.