08/05/2022
It's Finders-Keepers at America's Only Diamond Mine
John Wesley Huddleston, a Pike Co. farmer, was the first outside of South Africa to find diamonds at a volcanic source around Murfreesboro, Arkansas in 1906. Huddleston quickly sold his land to investors in September 1906 for $360 cash upfront and $36,000 for his 243 acres to be paid over the next ten years.
Soon after Huddleston discovered diamonds on his property, his neighbors decided to get in on the action and they too found diamonds on their property. One neighbor, Millard M. Mauney realized he also had diamond-rich soil on his propert but decided to go a different route.
Instead of selling his property outright to investors, Millard Mauney decided to open his land to tourists for 50¢ a visit to search for diamonds. Within the first month of opening, visitors were finding diamonds all over, but that didn't last long.
Mauney's public mine lasted about a year because basically there was no development to accommodate the tourists coming into town to dig for diamonds. See, the investors at John Huddleston's property had all they wanted right there and they saw no need for expansion. Nevertheless, Mauney closed his mine and sold shares of his land to corporations.
Huddleston became known as the "Diamond King," and lived comfortably until his death in 1941. Afterwards, the two rival diamond companies, Arkansas Diamond Company & Ozark Diamond Mines Corporation merged together and formed a tourist attraction called the Crater of Diamonds in 1952.
In 1972, the state of Arkansas bought the diamond site of where diamonds were first discovered back in 1906 at Huddleston's former property. Today, it's the only diamond mine in the world that is open to the public. Since becoming a state park in 1972, more than 31,000 gems have been found at The Crater of Diamonds State Park. On average two are found every day, and visitors get to keep them.
The Crater of Diamonds State Park is located at 209 State Park Rd in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. For a fee of a few dollars you can enter the mine, search all day and keep any diamonds that you find. You can bring your own tools or rent tools at the Park. Power tools are not allowed; however, the Park periodically plows the diamond field to turn up fresh soil.
It's the only active diamond mine in the U.S, period. Most people don't find a diamond during their visit, but a few miners have been extremely successful. Since the area is an old volcanic pipe and you can find all kinds of cool gem rocks (Amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate, quartz) that you can keep whatever you find. Everyone has fun. If you go, tell them FunInArkansas sent you. They'll be glad you did!
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(This post falls under the Fair Use Act of 1976 for media publication.)
