The Crater of Diamonds State Park is a state park found in the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is located near Murfreesboro in Pike County. Currently, it is the only diamond bearing site in the world that is non-commercial and open to the public. What can you expect from the Crater of Diamonds State Park?The state park contains over 911 acres and rests over an eroded lamproite volcanic pipe. The crater measures 37 1/2 acre. It must be occasionally plowed so that buried diamonds and other gemstones rise closer to the surface. Though the crater itself is a large area, the entire park has more amenities to look through, including a visitor center, diamond discovery center, camping and hiking grounds and an aquatic playground. Where is Murfreesboro, you ask? It is found just south of Hot Springs, Arkansas and is accessible all year long.
What Can You Expect At the Crater of Diamonds State Park?
The park is open to the public, though it costs a small fee to get inside. Visitors and gem hunters are allowed to dig for diamonds and gemstones and get to keep whatever they find. It must be a scam right? Who would open up a diamond mine for free public touring if anything profitable could be harvested? They did just that and over 25,000 diamonds have been found in the crater since it became a state park. Visitors are allowed to keep the gemstones they find, and in case you’re wondering, yes, many have found diamonds and other stones of great value. Park visitors find over 600 diamonds every year, in a variety of colors and grades. Besides diamonds, visitors have also found amethyst, agate, and jasper and other minerals.
The History of the Crater of Diamonds State Park
This volcanic pipe is part of an eroded volcano estimated to be nearly 100 million years old. The lamproite magma of the upper mantle is what brings diamonds and stones to the searchable surface. This volcanic pipe was discovered millions of years after its formation, and the first diamond was found only within the last 100 years or so. In 1906, Murfreesboro landowner John Huddleston found the first diamond on record. The first instinct of man was to exploit the land and produce diamonds commercially. However, all efforts failed! The only output discovered came from the surface layer thanks to erosion.
The early period of the Crater of Diamonds, from its discovery and until 1932 saw yields exceed thirty carats per hundred loads. The highest yields were two carats per hundred loads in 1908. Even by 1944, two carats were being mined per hundred short tons. As you can expect, word spread quickly and diamond rush came upon the city. Local hotels in the area were turning away literally thousands of people a year.
From 1950 to the early 1970s, the area hosted mainly private tourist events, such as the Diamond Preserve of the United States in 1950. By 1951, Howard A. Millar had launched the “Crater of Diamonds” attraction and stirred heavy national publicity. The first major discovery was in 1956 when a tourist found the “Star of Arkansas” diamond on the cleared surface. This was a real steal, weighting in at 15.33 carats.
Eventually, a man named Roscoe Johnston would open up his own tourist attraction nearby called the “Arkansas Diamond Mine.” The two tourist operations would rival each other, which only resulted in weakening both financially. By the end of this era, the early 1970s, the land was consolidated by a private partnership and later reassigned as property of General Earth Minerals. Though GEM had plans to expand on the attraction, the business went under and eventually was taken over by the GF Industries of Dallas in 1971. GEM consolidated the property and GFI continued to open its doors until it was sold in 1972.
The Modern Era
Who would buy this phenomenal landmark? Of course the State of Arkansas who purchased the land for a mere $750,000. The tourist operation was now open to the public, and though it occasionally gave away a real diamond, it made a great deal of money from admittance. The influence of the Crater of Diamonds is so vast that the state has become associated with diamonds in its own right, most notably in the design of the flag of Arkansas. Additionally, the Arkansas State Quarter bears a diamond on its face and the official seal of Arkansas State University once used a multi-faceted diamond as part of its logo.
If you are looking for a fascinating tourist attraction then make plans to visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park, an historical landmark and possibly a lucrative one. Do people still find diamonds buried in the surface at this public park? Just ask Chad Johnson, who as recently as 2007, found a 4.38 carats tea-colored diamond for his own keeping!
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