The woman asked, "Where was the fun in all of this?"

Oh, I better tell you what this was all about.

For the past 56 years, Aug. 22 has been Carol's and my wedding anniversary, and it doesn't look like it's about to change. We always look for something new to do on these occasions, and for the past four years, Carol asked me if I would like to go search for diamonds in the Crater of Diamonds State Park. I've never had the desire to spend hours digging through dirt, clay and mud while looking for gems, minerals or crystals. So I always suggested other adventures.

But this year when she asked again, I had a different thought. Of all the activities we've done and events we've attended, we've never looked for diamonds. And if we are ever going to do it, we better do it now while we can.

We knew it would be labor-intensive so we asked Michael, our son, to accompany us. This 40-year-old muscular fellow gladly accepted the challenge.

We gathered up the tools we thought we would need (we took too many), and we bought a few tools we didn't have (we didn't need them). As novices, all we needed were shovels, buckets to hold the dirt we dug, and a bucket to hold the gravel we sifted. (Please watch the detailed instructions about sifting for diamonds on YouTube.)

More than 8 million people visit the park annually, but approximately 120,000 dig for diamonds. We learned that only 1 out of 200 people might find a diamond, and the average is two diamonds -- no matter how small -- are found each day.

The following info is from the state park website.

"Crater of Diamonds State Park is a 911-acre Arkansas state park in Pike County, Arkansas, in the United States. The park features a 37.5-acre plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public. Diamonds have continuously been discovered in the field since 1906, including the Strawn-Wagner Diamond. In fact, park visitors find more than 600 diamonds of all grades and colors each year. The site became a state park in 1972 after the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism purchased the site from the Arkansas Diamond Company and Ozark Diamond Mines Corporation who had operated the site as a tourist attraction previously."

I filled the tank with gas and we drove the 225-miles to Murfreesboro, Ark. Carol, Michael and I were at the Crater State Park door when it opened at 8 a.m. I rented a sifter-set for each of us and a wagon to haul our equipment to a digging site. The one quarter-inch-grid sifter allows the dirt, gravel, and small rocks to reach the fine-mesh screen, and the fine-mesh screen allows the dirt and silt to fall through. We then wash the gravel. We were told that when sunlight hits a diamond, the flash of refracted light is unmistakable and we'll know we have a gem! We didn't see a flash.

The YouTube instructions make diamond-digging look easy, but allow me to tell you a few secrets. Diamond-digging is not easy and you might not find a diamond. Some people are semi-professional, have been visiting the site for 20-35 years, and come in teams of 4 to 15 people. One Army vet on a team told me he found 4 diamonds, but his team dug a 15-foot-long trench, 10 feet deep to find them. Most people don't have the time or the tools to dig that deeply.

Carol, Michael and I were sore and tired after six hours of digging, sifting, washing and looking for a flash of refracted light. We did find 23 items that could be jade, and 11 items that are probably quartz. But we also found several very small items that might be diamond. We'll wash them more thoroughly and take them to a jeweler for verification.

Since the park closes at 4 p.m., we began cleaning up at 3:15. As I was getting ready to return the rented sifter sets and wagon, the woman with a tired look on her face asked, "Where was the fun in all this?"

I responded, "There wasn't any fun here. The fun was driving here. The rest was all hard labor."

"Good!" she sighed. "Then I didn't miss anything."

I think all Arkansans should try it at least once. And if we find a diamond in our little jar, we'll probably go back again.

-- S. Eugene Linzey is an author, mentor and speaker. Send comments and questions to [email protected] Visit his web site at www.genelinzey.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Print Headline: The Arkansas diamond crater

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