This is Throwback Thursday #184. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected]. Thanks!
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Located near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, Crater of Diamonds is a State Park of Arkansas. It's the only place in the world where the public can search for real diamonds. The park opened in 1972 after the State of Arkansas purchased the land and opened it up for public access. The largest diamond found at the park was 40.23 carats. That diamond, named "Uncle Sam", is also the largest diamond ever found in the US. Visit their official website for more information.
Your diamond search begins here, where you can prepare for your visit by learning about diamonds and how to search for them. At the park's visitor center, you can view real, uncut diamonds and interact with exhibits illustrating the area's unique history and geology. At the Diamond Discovery Center, you can learn more about rocks and minerals found at the park and how to search for diamonds using various techniques. Diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow: the three colors found here at the park are white, brown, and yellow. Amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate, quartz, and other rocks and minerals naturally occur here. Park staff provide complimentary identification of rocks and minerals found at the park, as well as diamond mining demonstrations and other interpretive programs.
The following article appeared in the ESCONI newsletter in October 1972.
CRATER OF DIAMONDS AND NEARBY LAND SOLD TO ARKANSAS FOR A STATE PARK from Jewelers' Circular-Keystone contributed by Stan Berger
June, 1972: America's only diamond-bearing kimberlite mining area, the so-called Crater of Diamonds, near Murfreesboro, Arkansas was bought last March 14 by the state of Arkansas--along with surrounding acreage--and is now a state park.
The state paid $750,000 for 867 acres, including the 78-acre area which encloses four separate pipes of kimberlite. It will spend up to $1 million more to develop the park--whose main attraction, of course, will be the opportunity to look for diamonds lying on the ground's surface.
The seller was GF Industries, Dallas, which in 1969 bought the entire diamond bearing area from several owners.. GF was the first company ever to consolidate the mine since prospector John Huddleston found the first two diamonds there in 1906,
The years since then have been confused ones in Murfreesboro. First came a rough-and-ready diamond rush. Then 40 years of attempts by wealthy men--and even the U.S. Bureau of Mines--to make the mining profitable.
The last attempt was made in 1948. Tycoon Glen L. Martin, following in the footsteps of such men as Henry Ford and even the Rockefellers, set up a company that sank $700,000 in a pilot mining plant. In its one and only year of operation, the mine produced 246 carats of diamonds worth only $984.60.
Some excellent stones have been found at Murfreesboro. They include the largest ever recovered in this country, the 40.23 carat Uncle Sam, which was dug up in 1924.
However, Notable Diamonds of the World, published this year lists on 60 gem diamonds of one carat or more known to have been found in the U.S. Of these, only ten came from Murfreesboro. They ranged in size from the Uncle Sam to the 3.11 carat Eisenhower Diamond found in 1957.
Generally, the stones found at the mine are small and low grade. Of the 60,000 reportedly recovered since 1906, only a few have been of real value because only 8% have been of gem quality. For example, amateurs digging in one section of the area in a recent year found 3000 stones whose total weight was 720 carats.
However, there's always a chance. A lucky digger in 1964 found the blue Star of Murfreesboro, a 34.25 carat beauty.
Thus, the lure of a big find has seen eager tourists swarming to the field ever since 1952 when Howard A. Miller let the public come in and dig for a fee of $1.50 a day--plus 25% of the value of any stone weighing more than five carats.
Arkansas won't be taking this cut, according to W. E. Henderson, director of the Diamond State's Department of Parks and Tourism. The state will charge a flat fee of $2 a day--and provide free appraisals.