Wes and Jan see the US Wanderings and Side Trips

Crater of Diamonds State Park Apr 23, 2008

Monday, Smokey and Pam joined us and today we all went to dig for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. It was only about 85 miles from Beaver's Bend, so we had a nice little drive. We were all excited and just knew we were going to find a really great diamond. We left early in the morning so we wouldn't be there in the heat of the day. After watching the video about the history of the park, we went to get our equipment and see the instructional video. Evidently the field is plowed monthly and the best time to search is right after a rain. The diamonds rise to the top just like rocks in a field and when it rains, the dirt is washed off of them. A lot of diamonds have been "discovered" by just walking along and looking for them on top of the ground. There were a lot of SERIOUS diggers there. They had all their own equipment and had holes they were digging deeper than a person. They had serious sifters etc. and some even had reserved parking spaces in the parking lot. They must come every day to dig for their diamonds. They are much more dedicated than we were. After about an hour digging in the dry soil, we opted to try the washing method. This was much easier and we went through a lot more soil in less time, but still no diamond. I did find some nice jasper and crystals. I would have been really excited to find amethyst, which is frequently found here. Most of the one carat diamonds are worth about $50, but there have been some really nice, large stones found here.

After about two hours, we were tired, hot and hungry. We opted for lunch and an end to our diamond prospecting days. We checked out the gift shop and cleaned up a little. Digging for diamonds is dirty work :-) We headed out for home after checking out the very nice campground in this state park. It is a good possibility for future trips.

We took a different route back to Broken Bow and passed another lake with campgrounds. We picked up KFC for dinner and encountered a severe thunderstorm on the way back to the campground. When we arrived "home", there was no rain. However, later we had thunderstorms with lightning and some wind. Things are going to be pretty wet tomorrow.