Walking through the countryside is a nice hobby. You do sports outdoors, you breathe fresh air, you can find some mushrooms, asparagus and even diamonds. Well, the latter if you are very lucky or if you are walking through the 'Crater of Diamonds', a very special area of a State Park in the United States that promises that, if you visit it, you will find a diamond. And you can also take it home.
Although looking at the price of asparagus, maybe it's even better than finding a diamond. And much richer.
'Arkánsame' that diamond. The history starts in 1906. John Huddlestone was a farmer who owned land in a small rural town in Arkansas. He didn't know that his property was on a volcanic chimney, but it turns out it was, and not just any one, but with lamproite. It is a rock from which diamonds can be extracted. It turns out that one day he found two minerals and, upon examining them, it turned out that they were two diamonds.
Rumors that there were diamonds spread and the area was filled with curious people looking for luck, but it turns out that the diamonds were found in specific land. Part belonged to John, part being owned by one MM Mauney. It turns out that the Arkansas Diamond Company bought out John, but Mauney didn't feel like selling.
Shark mentality. Mauney saw that people wanted to find diamonds and did what many would have done: if the diamonds are on my property and people want to come in, let them pay. And so he went, setting up his own business that he was able to maintain for a while until, finally, he ended up selling. Now, not to Arkansas Diamond, but to other buyers.
However, in 1969 General Earth Minerals of Dallas came into play, purchasing the two properties and keeping the business private. And in 1972 the state of Arkansas itself entered the equation and said that it was over, that it was going to be a State Park (after paying $750,000 for the land, of course). The surrounding area was turned into a park, but the diamond search area remained. This will be important later.
bud. And so we found ourselves in 2007, the year in which a person named David Anderson went to the park and found his first diamond. Anderson became fond of this, so much so that over the last 16 years he has collected more than 400 diamonds. Some are extremely small, but 15 of them weigh more than a carat. In 2011 he found one of 3.83 carats and in 2014 another of 6.19 carats.
Depending on the condition, a one-carat one can sell for between $1,000 and $13,000, so Anderson has a small fortune. And something interesting is that he has been finding them in all colors and sizes. In fact, a year ago he found a 3.29-carat piece that he thought was a piece of quartz (which is still very important) and he named it BUD (for 'big ugly diamond'). ).
Vacation with diamonds. Logically, just as Mauney exploited his land in his day, today the diamond 'hunting' area continues to be treated as a business and can be accessed after purchasing a ticket. It costs $15 and search kits are offered for about an additional $20. It is still a tourist attraction (in addition to the beauty of the place) and people like Julien Navas have taken advantage of it.
Navas with his diamond
And why do we give a tourist a first and last name? Well, because a year ago, this French tourist traveled to the North American East and, taking advantage of the fact that he wanted to see the launch of the Culvan Centaur at Cape Canaveral, he stopped by the park. After hours searching, found a 7.46 carat diamond, one of the largest found in the park. The value of this discovery is incalculable, but it turns out that Navas is not going to sell it, but rather cut it up to share it with his wife and his daughter.
50 years of competition. If you think that the Anderson and Navas diamonds are large, you should know that several much larger ones have been found in the park. The park has a record since its opening and in it we find many that are close to 10 carats. However, the prize goes to one of the area's first treasure hunters, a certain WW Johnson who, in 1975, found a 16.37-carat white diamond. And, in total, more than 35,200 diamonds have been found, 838 of them in 2023, so it seems that the 'mine' is far from exhausted.
So, if one day you feel like visiting the natural landscapes of Arkansas and its surroundings, you already know that there is another attraction in the area: a park where you can find diamonds… and keep them. According to the owners, between one and two diamonds are found per person each day.
Images | Arkansas State Parks
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