Crater of Diamonds State Park

Arkansas State Park, Opened 1972 On The Site Of The 1906 Huddleston Discovery. The Only Diamond Bearing Deposit In The World Open To The Public On A Finders Keepers Basis. · Murfreesboro, Arkansas

Crater of Diamonds is the only diamond-bearing site in the world where the public can dig and keep whatever they find. The search area is a thirty-seven-acre ploughed field, the eroded top of a lamproite volcanic pipe that pushed up through south-west Arkansas roughly a hundred million years ago. A farmer named John Huddleston found the first two stones here in 1906; the field passed through a run of failed mining ventures and roadside tourist operations before the state bought it and opened it as a park in 1972. Visitors have registered tens of thousands of diamonds since. The park ploughs the field periodically, rents buckets, shovels and screens, and identifies anything you carry to the desk free of charge - the largest diamond ever found in the United States, the forty-carat Uncle Sam, came out of this dirt in 1924. On an average day one to three stones are found, nearly all of them smaller than a grain of rice, and the honest expectation is a sunburn and a bucket of jasper.

209 State Park Road, Murfreesboro, Arkansas, 71958, United States

The search field opens in the morning and closes in the late afternoon, with shorter hours in winter, and staff clear the field at closing. The Diamond Discovery Center keeps the same hours and is where you pay, rent equipment and have finds identified. The campground is open year-round. Diamond Springs Water Park runs only in summer. The park closes on a small number of winter holidays. Confirm the day's field hours before driving - Murfreesboro is a long way from anywhere.

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