Worth More than Diamonds

“I’m really feeling lucky this time! You know that feeling you get when you just know you are going to find the real thing? I’ve got it, and I’m going to strike it rich,” said a young lady to her sister who was working alongside her. “If we find one while working together, do you agree to selling it here, paying for the whole trip, and splitting the rest between us?” It was agreed upon, and they walked along the volcano, carefully watching their step, and keeping a close eye out for any flash of light. They were both sure they were going to find one. The whole family was there looking, searching for these valuable stones, and there were nine people in the party. The chance of finding one seemed pretty good. One search party found a stone just the day before, so their hopes were high.

Types of Diamonds found at the State Park

The girls came to a little washed-out area where there was a heavier concentration of lamproite, the rough often brittle dark brown to black rock. Surely this would be the lucky place to find it! They took a shovel full from here, and a shovel full from there until they were satisfied with their bucket filled with samplings of the volcanic soil. After a little searching, the sky which had been overcast all morning began to spill, and it sprinkled just slightly. Perfect! That might help the stone to stand out and shine against the dark soil. Dirt does not stick to this stone.

We were at Crater of Diamonds State Park, and all had confidence in finding a diamond or two. More than 70, 000 diamonds have been sifted from the western Arkansas soil in the last 116 years making an average of 600 hundred diamonds found each year. It appears to be a flat location nowadays, but the volcanic rocky soil tells the story of an eruption a few thousand years ago during the flood era, bringing up the many diamonds from deep below the earth’s surface. Surprisingly, 2020 was a record-breaking year for the number of visitors with an astounding 129,000 hopeful diamond seekers, yet only 343 diamonds were brought up from the soil, meaning roughly one of every 376 people found a diamond. That did not seem so great until I saw the odds of finding a diamond otherwise is one in 10,000,000!

Our family was spread out over the 37 acres of the park gathering the soil and bringing it up to the water troughs to be sifted. The routine was repeated so many times it was almost a natural motion now. Dump the soil into the large sieve with the small mesh underneath. Run your fingers through, so as to wash the dirt away, leaving only the large rock in the top sieve and set that aside. Now, wash the soil from the finer sieve in the same way as the first, but now, rock the sieve back and forth under the water bringing all the rock to the center like a loaf of bread. Then, tap gently and allowing the contents to pan flat. Rotate a quarter turn and repeat the process seven times more. This action causes the heavier minerals to make their way to the center of the sieve, so when the pebbles are flipped upside down on the table, a circle of the heavy minerals should be visible in the center of the pile of rock. After excitedly yet carefully picking around the center with a knife, and assessing as to whether or not any of them could possibly be a diamond, we took the handful of heavier minerals and put them in a bag to take home with us. The park allows five gallons of rock to be taken per person, but we just took home a nice bag full. They say that is where most of the diamonds are found. On heading out of the park I looked up and saw the same park ranger who did the YouTube tutorial on how to wet sift the soil!

I never did find a diamond, striking it rich as I thought and felt I would. If I had found one, I may not have told you because who knows who would come knocking on our door for a share in my good fortune! We didn’t find a diamond, but we did find something better that does not have monetary value. Good memories with my family are worth more than all the diamonds in the world to me.

~Jayla