Digging for diamonds, a needle in a 37-acre haystack

Ready to strike it rich

Did I mention that we are staying in a “dry” Arkansas County?  Well, you may not be able to buy liquor here but judging from the amount of liquor and beer bottles along the road there is still a lot of drinking going on here.

Joan was a little surprised to find out there was no booze here. Hey, I know how to show a girl a good time.

I saw the empty beer and booze bottles on my ill thought out walk this morning along a narrow two lane highway near our RV Park. My timing was probably poor judging by the amount of commute traffic (well, what would pass for commute traffic in a town of 1,700) that was going by me as I was walking about 8 a.m.

Hey, someone has to take pictures

Also the sun was still coming up and low in the sky and was probably not helping folks see me while I was walking. But I survived the 3-mile jaunt and arrived back to the trailer safe and sound.

It’s election day, but you wouldn’t know it from where we sit. No television and no signs of voting in the area where we are staying. Tonight we borrowed two DVDs from the RV Park lending library and we are planning to watch “License to Kill” with Denzel Washington and if we have time “Executive Decision” with Kurt Russell.

After cleaning up this morning we went to the park office and checked out two large pails, a shovel and a set of screens so we could try our luck at finding a precious diamond at the 37-acre volcano crater at Crater of the Diamonds State Park.

The old 49er

The very nice lady at the RV Park gave us a 15-minute run down on how to dig and then sift for diamonds in the large water troughs they have at the park. It’s a lot like pan mining for gold.

We arrived at the park about 11 a.m., paid our $7 fee each to get in and then headed out to the “mine.”

Once I saw the large field where we were going to look for diamonds it became just a little daunting. Think needle-in-a-haystack daunting. The receptionist told us they average about two diamonds out of the mine each day, although recently they had a day where 8 diamonds were found.

The lady at the RV Park said she had been hunting for diamonds at the site at least two days a week since 2006 and found only a handful of small diamonds in all that time. So our odds had to be pretty high.

Playing in the mud

We walked through rows of plowed earth and for no particular reason started scooping up shovelfuls of dirt and then took them to the washing stations to find our diamonds.

Joan roamed all over the crater and we took turns “panning” for diamonds. We did avoid the one spot in the crater where we were told that a mama rattle snake had a nest. It occurred to me later that is probably where all the diamonds are because no one ever digs there.

We found a few shiny stones, probably quartz, and likely no diamonds although we haven’t had them checked yet.  We’ll keep you posted.

Joan decided that diamond mining was a lot more work than she expected but we are going back tomorrow to walk the crater again and see if the New Hope Diamond just falls at our feet.

It wouldn't be a trip with a bonnet photo, or three

It occurs to me, and remembering the California Gold Rush, that the only people who are making any money at this diamond mining are the folks who are renting the equipment, feeding and housing the miners.

Before we left this morning Joan put a pork roast in the crock pot and we had a wonderful dinner in when we arrived home.

While walking to the office to pick up one of our movies we stopped and talked to a nice couple from Florida who have been in the park two weeks, but are leaving tomorrow morning. They are in a beautiful motorhome and like so many people we have met on the road very easy to talk to.

Tomorrow it’s back to the mine and then to a local Indian village that dates back 1,000 years. You can hunt for arrowheads there.