Crater of Diamonds State Park

Spring break 2025 hubby and I took a road trip to the Crater of Diamonds State Park.  The area was a volcano that when it erupted formed the diamonds.  For years the area was mined but as the cost of mining increased commercial mining was not as lucrative and the area eventually became a state park.  This has been a bucket list item since I learned of the park.  Before we left, we researched the area and tips and tricks to be successful in our hunt. Before we even left for our trip we rented equipment from a local outfitter. 

Once we arrived in town we confirmed our equipment for the next day and settled in for some rest.  After breakfast we headed to the outfitters for a lesson.  After the lesson we went to the park, all of the equipment was there waiting for us.  This turned out to be a great decision, we had a wagon, five buckets, screen sieve, saruca screen, gloves and an apron.  I picked a spot and shoveled a couple of buckets of gravel.  On sight they have wash stations and as we made our way to a wash station I filled a couple more buckets.  I found an open spot at the wash station and started processing my gravel.  First you run the gravel through a rough screen pushing the muddy bits through the screen into the finer screen below.  You then sort through the larger pieces and get rid of any that are not diamonds. 

The stuff left in the finer screen went into a clean bucket to await screening with the saruca.  Since this was my first time I did not feel confident in my ability to run the saruca, I did try in the field but recollected the material and waited until we went back to the outfitters.  Once I rough processed all of my buckets we left the park for the day.  After stopping for lunch I was back at the outfitters learning how to work the saruca screen.  It takes a lot of practice.  The benefit of using the outfitter was they reran my centers from my saruca screenings to cut down on the bulk of what I was taking home for the final processing.  At the end of day one I was soaked and tired but so excited that I might find a diamond.  Day two started at the park after breakfast.  The owner of the outfitter company was there and made some dig location suggestions.  I quickly filled my buckets and started the rough screening.  As I did the day before, I rough processed at the park then went back to the outfitters for saruca screening. The second day I found more promising centers.  A tell-tale item is chromium diopside, a lime green rock that is found with the diamonds in the park.  I found a bunch of that and some good sized crystals. The outfitter was surprised I did not flip a diamond but gave me confidence that I would find one when I processed the centers.

I would not get to do the final processing of my centers until I arrived home, the centers need to be dried.  I took home about a gallon of centers.  It took me about a month to process everything.  First I would bake it dry in the oven.  Next I ran it through a finer sieve set and checked each layer using a dissecting microscope I borrowed from work.  I found quite the collection of red, purple, and yellow stones, a few have the potential to be diamonds. There were also plenty of clear stones and a few of them could also be diamonds.  I guess I will have to make a trip back to get confirmation.  It was a lot of work but an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.  So you have a favorite state park?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.