Dig diamonds? Go south.
Amateur diamond prospecting picks up steam in Arkansas.
from the May 4, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Today, Tim Tucker, a computer programmer from LaPorte, Ind., scratches at the surface with a knife. He's a dry-sifter who has been here 11 times in the past four years, usually after family reunions nearby.
"It's a lot of work, and it's muddy," he says. "I've probably learned 1,000 ways not to find a diamond." Mr. Tucker digs for fun, he says. He would sell anything he found over two carats.
Many diggers find chips best suited for homemade jewelry or souvenirs. But some serious gems have also been unearthed. The biggest of the 25,000 diamonds found in the park since its 1972 opening: the 16.37-carat gem named "Amarillo Starlight" by its Texas finder in 1975. An 8.82-carat stone was found six years later. A 1990 find – the "Strawn-Wagner" – weighed 3.03 carats in the rough before being cut and declared the most perfect diamond ever certified by the American Gem Society.
Interest in Crater of Diamonds began a new surge last year, says Rachel Engebrecht, park interpreter. That's about when the state – 100 years after farmer John Huddleston first realized his land had very special crop potential – decided to do some deep "trenching" near the West drain along the park's boundary to give diggers a hand.
Some quick results: 6.35-carat and 5.47-carat finds. The 4.21-carat Okie Dokie Diamond found by an Oklahoma state trooper made in onto "The Today Show," Ms. Engebrecht says. This year began with the highly publicized 2.67-carat yellow diamond found by Jim Gatliff of Delight, Ark. He named it "Star of Thelma," for his wife.
Instant wealth from the ground might just be the new lottery. Interest in gold panning has also spiked along with gold prices. Membership in one panners' association jumped 25 percent, to 40,000 last year.
But mining isn't all chance.
As the regulars here know – and good listeners like Anderson learn – the sand-and-gravel layers three to five feet down can be the richest spots from which to pull material for wet-sifting – or sluicing. Engebrecht demonstrates the "rock, tap, turn" motion that gathers heavier stones in the center of a wet screen. Then she flips it like a cake and begins probing.
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