Crater of Diamonds Newsletter

Greetings from Crater of Diamonds State Park! Diamond finds hit a sharp decline last month, with only 32 diamonds registered. For year-to-date figures, we were only 18 finds ahead of 2008 totals by the end of the month. This is especially surprising when considering that earlier in the year, we were more than 100 finds ahead of 2008 totals!

When compared with 159 diamond finds last October, this decrease illustrates one way that rainfall has impacted the Crater this season. It rained 20 days last month, which likely dampened the plans of many people planning to visit the Crater. However, the precipitation also served a more beneficial purpose: The resulting erosion brought about the highest percentage of surface finds so far this year! Twelve diamonds, more than one-third of all October finds, were found on the surface during the month. Three of these weighed more than one carat, and one was this year’s second-largest diamond find, a 2.93-carat brown gem found by Arkansan Royce Walker on October 20.

Another unusual trend during the month dealt with the home states of visitors. For the first time in two years, more diamonds were registered by people from out-of-state than Arkansans. Travelers from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey registered 22 diamonds in October, compared to only ten from Arkansas.

If the past is any evidence, people from all over the country, particularly northern states, will continue to visit the Crater this winter. One of the most common questions we receive through phone calls and e-mail this time of year concerns winter weather in southwest Arkansas.

Stated simply, winter at the park can be quite cold. Temperatures from December to February typically range from the low 30s to the mid 50s. The coldest weather usually hits around the middle of January, when chances of snowfall are also highest (two to three inches).
Water in our washing pavilions may freeze solid, and it's always a good idea to bring a thick pair of gloves along to help insulate your hands, should you choose to wet sift. If you only have cloth gloves, we sell rubber gloves at the park which can be worn over a pair of cloth gloves to help keep your hands dry.

The overall chance of precipitation actually drops during winter, but cloud cover and cold temperatures slow the evaporation of rainfall and snow, often preventing us from plowing the search area. This makes the soil more difficult to dig, but surface hunting becomes easier.
Traditionally, winter is our slowest season for park visitation. Those of us who are already cold-natured will save mining adventures for warmer weather, but you can almost always bet on a few die-hard miners hunting even on the coldest, cloudiest days!

Search area last plowed: October 20, 2009

November 3 - Dorothea Trauger, Delight, AR, 3 pt. brown; Amanda Johnson, Delight, AR, 3 pt. white

November 6 - Thomas Houser, Bossier City, LA, 16 pt. white; David Anderson, Kent City, MI, 38 pt. white

November 7 - Damien Houran, Grapevine, TX, 11 pt. yellow; Wilma Baker, Fort Smith, AR, 49 pt. brown