Going to the crater of Diamonds

[dakotama95]

My husband is taking me to the Crater of Diamonds for Mother's Day weekend. We are leaving tomorrow and will be staying at the State park for about 4 days. I would like some helpful information from any one who has been there in the past. I hope to find at least one diamond even though I know that the chances are slim. So any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

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[rmptr]

Aw shucks!

and not one single person was able to give her advice...

I sure hope she found a bunch!

rmptr

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

and not one single person was able to give her advice...



Not on-line anyway.

B

 

[petersra]

Dakotama,

I realize that I am a day late and a dollar short, since you took the trip months ago. However, I just stumbled onto this post, while scanning what else is in this fantastic Tnet web site. I went to the creator in March 08. I worked hard for two days and was about to give up. An old timer pro who has spent most of his spare time finding diamonds, (he has found several thousand) was there and we got to chatting. He convinced me to come back the third day and he would assist me with advice on technique and let me use some of his equipment. I really worked hard that day and processed about 20-5 gallon buckets of material. It was late in the day and I was trying to finish washing the material. I was using his equipment and didn't finish because he was also assisting a couple of college kids, both of whom did find a diamond. I left 4 buckets of material that I had not processed, as well as a pile of 1/4 - 1/2 inch material that I did not go thru thoroughly. My wife thinks he was scamming me. (One of the things he told me was that the best diamond he ever found was a 7 kt. flawless white diamond that someone missed and left behind in their waste pile. I sent him an email after I found the diamond at home and he never responded, so who knows what I left in my waste pile or in the 4 buckets of material I didn't process.) I wasn't done washing my material, a storm was coming up and the park was closing, so I took the tops out of the middle of each of my processed material piles and put it in a bucket to take home with me the next day. We did not see any diamonds in the material piles while there at the park. However, when I got home I made a round seruka from window screen and the top of a 5 gallon bucket and lid and reprocessed the material twice. One of the things the old timer told me was that it is sometimes hard to tell a diamond from a piece of quarts when they are wet, but when they dry, the diamond will stand out because of the metalic shine. Anyway, I did find a diamond in the partially processed material I took home. It was about 1/4 kt white diamond and has a good size flaw in it, but it is a diamond for sure. Now I have to go back to Arkansas to get it certified. (aw shucks...) The moral of the story is to process everything you can while you are there and at the very least, take home the top centers of each of your processed piles to go thru it again when you get home. I think the specific gravity of a diamond is about 2.7 and quarts is about 2.9 with the jasper that is common there on the field about 2.0, so the diamonds do not sink to the bottom of the screen as readily as gold would with a specific gravity of 17. I am going back as soon as I get the chance. Hope you had luck on your visit and if not, that this input helps you on your next visit. If you are interested, I can post a picture of the diamond, but I am not home now and will have to do it when I get back home, if you ask for it. Happy Hunting to you. Ralph.......... When I originally wrote this post I was not at home and therefore, did not have access to my diamond photo. Since there was a follow-up, i thought I would share a photo of my tiny diamond. Enjoy, hope it will be bigger the next time. HH, Ralph

 

[graybar-hotel]

My family and I went to the park also around April of 08, and had a wonderful time. We did not find any diamonds but found time spent with each other laughing and talking more precious.
My daughter of 14 years and I actually came closer as we dug and walked the park. Couple of days, my wife and kids went to the water park and I got the chance to walk around alone and never thought about work or any problems left in Florida.

As I said, no diamonds were found but I found in the local thrift shops downtown Murfreesburg, a liberty cap 8 real, 1892, for 21 dollars.

As a person I recommend the park. As a family, I highly recommend the park.

I also stayed close at the Swaha Lodge. It is perfect and the family that runs it were great.


Respectfully,
Graybar-Hotel

ps, my pic is of my wife and I on our deck of the cabin at Swaha.

 

[1996]

go through lots of dirt.

 

[TomK]

I question anyone who says they have found "several thousand" diamonds while hunting at COD. Sounds like a big fish tale if you ask me.

Tom

 

[PBK]

I question anyone who says they have found "several thousand" diamonds while hunting at COD. Sounds like a big fish tale if you ask me.
Tom

Your skepticism is understandable— but I can assure that the story is true. The man's name was James "Diamond Jim" Archer, and there is now a plaque in his memory at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, honoring him for three decades of digging there, during which time he found around 5,000 diamonds and assisted countless visitors in their quest to recover one, too. What's more, he put his children through college on what he mined at the Crater.

Here's a link to a story which featured him: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20118564,00.html

Just thought you'd like to know.

​

 

[petersra]

The old timer pro (found several thousand diamonds), who I referenced in my previous post above said he sold most of the diamonds he found to individuals on the diamond field or to local gift shops who sold them to tourists. Although the park does not allow you to solicit selling your diamonds on State Park property, if someone asked him, he would produce a case from a bag. The display case contained no less than 100 diamonds of various sizes from 1/4 ct flawed stone priced at $50 up to a 5 ct white diamond priced at several thousand dollars. This individual spoke of James Archer, who is now dead (he had a heart attack on the diamond field). He knew James sold a 7ct flawless yellow diamond to a guy for $7,000. Most of the diamonds found by the "pros" do not get registered in their name. They let the buyer do that if they want to get the stone certified as a genuine Arkansas diamond. There are diamonds there and people do find them, but it usually takes a lot of hard work to do it. For me, I learned a lot on the last trip and will go back again as soon as I can. Happy Hunting to you. Ralph

 

[stoney56]

I believe Diamond Jim had retired from General Motors years back and not only did he put his kids through college but also paid for a new pickup with the stones he sold. At the time I met him, his favorite spot was south of the office. He told me the rod was to get down to fresh diggings. When he met resistance, he'd dig out a hole and start there.

 

[petersra]

the way it was explained to me was, they would probe with the rod until they found a uniform layer of small gravel. since the park had been worked several time commercially by hydraulic mining, the runoff from the hydraulic operation would concentrate gravel in layers and seams that would later get buried by subsequent mining operations. The commercial operations were so inefficient that they would miss more diamonds than they found so that this layer of gravel was usually rich with concentrations of diamonds. One guy told me that they once found a buried section of iron pipe that was used in the hydraulic mining and apparently the pipe had blocked the flow of water from the operation and along the whole length of the pipe was a concentration of gravel that produced over 100 diamonds. I have seen guys dig holes over 8' deep which seemed a little dangerous to me, but since the soil is such a stiff clay, maybe it is stable.

 

[trish76642]

wow, interesting stories...i've always wanted to go there.
My sis & her hubby went last year but didnt find anything, but said it was alot of fun! If i could just drive through Arkansas that would make me happy!

 

[petersra]

Trish,
so why can't you drive thru Arkansas?? I know Texas is a big state but if you keep going, you will get to the edge eventually .......

The first day I was there, and not really knowing what to do, I started out dry sifting dirt. About 1 hour into the day a family came and settled in nearby. About 15 minutes later, the 8yr old girl, declared, "I found one". her mom looked at it, then her grandpa looked, both said, "Maybe". I just had to see what she had found, so I went over and asked if I could see it. She had a gorgeous, but small, golden yellow diamond. In the sunlight, it seemed to glow like the sun with a shiny translucence. It sure looked like the yellow diamonds they had on exhibit to me. The little girl played, "put the diamond in the pill bottle, take it out of the pill bottle" for about 15 minutes and then dropped it. never did find it again, so I know of at least one that is still there

Hope you get a chance to give it a try. It is hard work, but fun. And then there are those who are lucky and find one in just 15 minutes. Good Luck.
Ralph

 

[trish76642]

Trish,
so why can't you drive thru Arkansas?? I know Texas is a big state but if you keep going, you will get to the edge eventually .......

The first day I was there, and not really knowing what to do, I started out dry sifting dirt. About 1 hour into the day a family came and settled in nearby. About 15 minutes later, the 8yr old girl, declared, "I found one". her mom looked at it, then her grandpa looked, both said, "Maybe". I just had to see what she had found, so I went over and asked if I could see it. She had a gorgeous, but small, golden yellow diamond. In the sunlight, it seemed to glow like the sun with a shiny translucence. It sure looked like the yellow diamonds they had on exhibit to me. The little girl played, "put the diamond in the pill bottle, take it out of the pill bottle" for about 15 minutes and then dropped it. never did find it again, so I know of at least one that is still there

Hope you get a chance to give it a try. It is hard work, but fun. And then there are those who are lucky and find one in just 15 minutes. Good Luck.
Ralph

LOL...well your right, Texas is a big ole State, might take me a while to get there, but i would love to go! Might get a chance to go this summer. Sister & her hubby go every year, or at least to Arkansas, she keeps trying to get me to plan a trip with her, but you know how life always gets in the way.

OMG i cant believe she dropped it! Arent the Canary ones the rare ones or no?

 

[petersra]

Trish, the Canary Yellow diamonds are more rare. I understand that they were not that popular a few years ago, because everyone wanted a blue-white, but like many things in life the tide has turned and they are back in vogue today. I would love to find a nice one. i would even consider having it mounted in its natural uncut state. I saw a picture of a Canary from CoD that was mounted uncut and it was beautiful and unique. Hope you get a chance to go some time. It is worth the trip for a treasure hunter like you. BTW Trish, I am really impressed with your silver mangenese rock / meteor. It is a fantastic find regardless what it is made of or where it came from. Besides, this Earth we call home is a foreign outer space object to some other living creature in outer space. (I think they are out there somewhere, we just haven't found them yet, or they haven't found us.) So to that outer space creature, your rock is from outer space to them. Anyway, you get the idea, I like it and would have loved to have found it myself.

Happy Hunting.
Ralph