How To Find Diamonds

You can find your own diamonds if you are willing to work at mining and picking through a huge batch of dirt and volcano spew at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

More than 70,000 diamonds have been uncovered over the years.

Crater of Diamonds sits over an extinct volcano where diamonds began to form more than 3 billion years ago, 60 to 100 miles below ground.

About 100 million years ago gas and rock blasted to the surface through a volcanic vent, carrying the diamonds along. The property owner Mr. Huddleston unearthed his first diamond on August 1, 1906. By 1952, the various owners of Huddleston's land and the neighboring fields had turned the "Crater" into a tourist attraction. The State of Arkansas took it over later and turned it into Crater of Diamonds State Park.

It has to be one of the most unusual state parks in the world: there you can actually find diamonds during your stay and keep what you find no matter the value. It is the only source of natural diamonds in the United States that is open to the public so come and dig for your own diamonds!

Things You’ll Need:

• Sifting screen
• Digging tools
• Lots of water
• Patience by the ton
• Huge Reward of your own diamond

  Of course, you have to dig a little, and get rather dirty, but that's all part of the experience. This would make a fabulous vacation and you may come home with your own large diamond!   Crater of Diamonds offers you a one-of-a-kind adventure - the opportunity to hunt for real diamonds and keep any you unearth.

The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found by a Texas visitor in 1975.  

You'll search over a 37-acre plowed field - the eroded surface of an ancient, gem-bearing volcanic pipe that exploded the diamonds to the surface.   Travel to Crater of Diamonds State Park (where you can keep any gem you find)is just 20 minutes from Murfreesboro, Arkansas.   It's the world's only publicly operated diamond mine where visitors are allowed to search and keep any gems they find. Many vacationers come here.  

Crater of Diamonds State Park is a rockhound's delight since, along with diamonds, more than 40 types of rocks and minerals can found here, too. These rocks and minerals include lamproite, amethyst, banded agate, jasper, peridot, garnet, quartz, calcite, barite and hemetite.   Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the public. Park visitors and vacationers find over 600 diamonds every year, in a variety of colors and grades.   Diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow.

Crater of Diamonds State Park has to be one of the most unusual state parks in the world: there you can actually find diamonds during your stay.   Park officials say you can sometimes find diamonds on the surface, so tools aren't required. But you can bring digging tools (nothing with a motor on it), buy a small trowel or cultivator for $1.37 each at the park, or rent larger shovels and soil-sifting screens.  

 In the historic town of Murfreesboro there are features from the 1880's including a dentist's office, blacksmith shop, old-fashioned appliances, tools, clothes, maps and historic documents and photos.

In the store you will find many examples of goods that were available to customers during the store's heyday alongside postings of 1880s prices.  

Park staff are trained to identify your finds, free of charge.

Park workers often plow the crater floor to churn up fresh soil and rocks. Call and find out when they are doing it next and plan your trip for those days to get fresh diggings.

Tips

• Be alert to any weird shaped rock or pebble. Many gemstones are thrown away each year because they weren't recognized as such.
• There are over 60 campsites, cabins or lodges in the area
• Watch out for any insects you are not familiar with.
• Wear long sleeves so you don't sunburn
• Take water and food along