Crater of Diamonds, Arkansas trip

[Red_desert]

I'm back from my trip to SW Arkansas. I booked 14 days during summer special rates last July, primitive tent space (new walk in area) for Oct 20-Nov 3.

Since traveling alone, tent camping worked out best for me. About 2 years now, after the park upgraded things.

I had a long trip, was bone dry when first got there, had a burning ban in effect, except for charcoal.

It was hot in the afternoon, then twice cold fronts moved through making it chilly in the morning.

 

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[SeaninNH]

Sounds like a fun trip.
Find any goodies while you were there?

 

[Red_desert]

Well, I like all kinds of rocks, had fun collecting them...large gold pan full on the bottom with agates, just taking photo of them which don't have ready yet.

Had a lot of fun playing with the bluish green lamproite which is the diamond ore. The various Ozark diamond mining companies would collect it, put on piles to weather. You don't crush the ore, rather stir it as weathered piles. The groundhog table was used in the mine shack. I guess they greased it for diamonds stick to grease, but not the other minerals.

Here is some of the soft weathered bluish green ore.

I kept filling up pans from my secret spot last couple days there, making many trips to my car. It got to be a joke, told people "I'm just high grading now, since the trip will soon be over".

 

[Red_desert]

Brought back about 77-78 lbs. of the ore, but still was plenty to get. I pack with gear for trips in such a way, doesn't even leave room for a hitch-hiker. The non-weathered or still hard enough to slice specimens, have a few nice ones. I was checking websites that sell kimberlite/lamproite specimens from various mines and locations such as South Africa, NW Territory above Canada. Right now some are getting $30-$36 for a polished slice specimen that fits into a 2x2" plastic holder.

Here is a slicing grade specimen of bluish green lamproite I left behind because it was to heavy to carry.

It was damaged when the furrows were done over. A closer look, the piece is huge. Too bad I didn't know what sliced ore is worth, would have rented a wagon if needed.

My ore is certified by the park geologists. You need to learn how to identify lamproite ore from other type rocks. In the same area I saw some very large lava ash rocks, then sandstone is everywhere in the mine field. After taking in a few pans of ore, became really good at mineral identification.

 

[Red_desert]

Next time I should bring one of these to haul rocks back to the car. Really would be better if I had a truck instead of car to load...perhaps a flatbed trailer too!

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Hey Cool Trip!..Ive been there a few times myself..its a great place out in the middle of nowhere....I found some good stuff there..nothing to retire from thou

 

[Red_desert]

Yeah, the crater sure is a neat place! Have some more photos over in the Daily Snapshot board.
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,434067.0.html

Trying to get some pics of finds up now.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Nice!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[RGINN]

Good idea to bring a tent along to store your food and supplies in. I know that you slept in your bedroll under the stars each night, undeterred by the fact that mosquitoes in that part of the country sometimes reach the size of pigeons. Just kiddin with you. That fits my idea of a perfect place to go vacation and I really enjoyed all the pics. (Sorry about the burn ban, but in the pics it does look drier than a popcorn f*rt down there, so probably good idea.)

 

[MRBeyer]

Cool trip, been there a couple times. How has your success rate been. Nothing yet here. I do use their wheelbarrows to mix and slurry dirt in so I can process it faster. I can usually go through about 4 heaping loads in a day, about 12-14 bucket loads of dirt. I figure it is a matter of time. I have the techniques, just need to learn more about reading the land.

 

[gildeal]

looks like a great trip. have always wanted to go there.

 

[Red_desert]

Well, it did rain on the weekend, got real muddy. Found in 1 tailing pile, not only the 22 agates, but a lot of other nice stones also. I spent a couple days visually searching the field, didn't really make any finds that way. Seems like everything good came from the same spot in the SW corner of the mine field.

 

[tesoro dog]

Great Show Red_desert! Enjoyed it Bro,, stilldigging myself. td

 

[Red_desert]

Great Show Red_desert! Enjoyed it Bro,, stilldigging myself. td

Wish I'd still be digging, this winter cold is just too much! Something about playing in the dirt, just a whole lot of fun.

 

[vibes]

I'll be back there March '12...I LOVE rocks too...and as an added bonus I found diamonds. BUT my real love is digging crystals in jessieville,AR. Glad you had a good time!

 

[Red_desert]

I noticed there were some people getting small quartz crystals. A guy who was back in the SW corner area, told me his wife had found a piece of amethyst out in the field about where I'd been digging. I wasn't really digging much, had my dry sifting pans, brought them from home. Three pans, a 14" Garrett gold classifier pan (with a galvanized rabbit cage mesh insert), then 2 sizes of mesh bottom gold pans (got them in Arizona).

Later that guy's wife showed me the amethyst, was a crystal cluster, just a light tint of color to it. There used to be large quartz crystals found in one of the Arkansas NF, don't remember which one. Jessieville,AR....that would be in the Hot Springs area. I've never been to any of the pay-to-dig sites there at Jessieville.

 

[vibes]

By chance did you get to meet Charles Newman? he's a diamond diggin' legend. On my 2nd trip to the park I was gifted with my own screens to sift diamonds...Charlie made them for me. he's a wealth of information. You'll usually find him in the back of the field with his barrel sifting buckets, lookin' for big ole 10!

Oh, and the "pay-to-dig" site in Jessieville isn't a "seeded" dig, hardly. But then again, ya gotta know where the good stuff lies.

 

[vibes]

and technically, the Crater of Diamonds is a pay to dig site as well.

 

[Red_desert]

By chance did you get to meet Charles Newman? he's a diamond diggin' legend. On my 2nd trip to the park I was gifted with my own screens to sift diamonds...Charlie made them for me. he's a wealth of information. You'll usually find him in the back of the field with his barrel sifting buckets, lookin' for big ole 10!

Oh, and the "pay-to-dig" site in Jessieville isn't a "seeded" dig, hardly. But then again, ya gotta know where the good stuff lies.

I didn't get the names of people digging there, except for other GPAA members. Back in the SW corner where I was, at least close....maybe 50-75 ft to the south, was a guy digging up the place. If that was him, I never stopped by to talk. It was in that low area next to the woods. Heard a story about a person carrying raw diamonds around in a vial. Those diamonds in the vial were supposed to have been found in the gully along the woods, the low area right in the corner.

 

[Red_desert]

You need to have a very good luck to meet this Diamond Digging Legend - Charles Newman....Still your trip shows that you had an amazing time there!!!

I did meet a lot of other prospecting/rockhound people....but the most amazing encounter with like-minded treasure hunters was meeting this couple who were there from another country. I didn't realize until talking with them, we have people come here from other countries, plan treasure hunting trips to the US. They live in South Africa, do some diving on shipwrecks, but not Florida. Their car, bought it and plan to sell it before leaving, were on the way back to Florida from gold prospecting in Alaska. That's a long trip, but they got here by sailing ship, left the boat at a shipyard in Florida.

Camped in the walk-in tent site area also, we talked about metal detecting, diving, prospecting, being from South Africa of course....talked about diamonds too. The diamond crater didn't seem to be a productive place to them. I've got their email address, so far haven't heard back yet, only when at a place with Internet access can they check their mail box.

Apparently there still are a few professional treasure hunters left, who can earn a living at it. That would be very difficult to do here in the United States, unless you traveled a lot.