Murfreesboro Arkansas

At our daughter Karen’s urging, we took a little jog south almost all the way back to Hope. When we had visited Hope, we had no idea this gem was just 40 miles North. Murfreesboro is the home of Crater of Diamonds State Park.

In 1906 Wesley Huddleston bought 160 acres outside Murfreesboro as a farm for his family. One day while preparing the fields, his eye fell upon several glittering pebbles. He sent the stones to a Little Rock jeweler who confirmed them to be actual diamonds. Archeologically, it turns out his land contained an ancient extinct volcano cone whose lava carried these precious stones near the surface, which is the reason diamonds exist here so near the topsoil. Over the decades many attempts were made to make this site into a commercially viable mining operation. However, although diamonds exist here in considerable quantities, their extraction is so costly as to make commercial mining uneconomical. All historic attempts to do so failed.

Based on geologic studies, this is the 8^th richest diamond field in the world. The diamonds are relatively uniformly distributed, and the diamond field goes down 660 feet from the surface. The State of Arkansas purchased the otherwise dormant mining site in 1972, and operates it as a state park. The Park basically runs plows over the surface to create a network of furrows which guest are allowed to walk through, rake and dig in order to search for diamonds. If a guest finds a diamond, they are entitled to keep it.

As in most places we have been, no matter how hard you try to make the rules known, post signs, and verbally remind, it just doesn't seem to work. In my experience most dogs listen pretty good when you talk to them. Also in my experience, most dog owners don't. Apparently that is management's experience at Crater of Diamonds State Park as well.

The Woman and I grabbed our folding chairs, some gloves, a couple shovels, and rented a screen so we could sift through as much rock and dirt as we could handle, and take our chances at discovering a gem. Since we’ve discovered so many gems in our travels, we thought maybe we could duplicate it here. It does happen. In June a 31 year old woman found and 8 carat stone right on the surface. It turned out to be a flawless white diamond, and is being cut in a public display in Little Rock sometime soon. Speculation is that the stone, once cut, will likely fetch $350,000 at auction!

We had a great time at the Park, although we both found the prospecting to be far more work than we expected. Our bones and muscles reminded us of that by the minute the next day. We weren’t successful in uncovering another “gem”, but we did have a great time, and will take another shot at it if we ever get in the area again. It is the only place in the US where you can prospect for diamonds as a private citizen.

Talk to you soon!