2011 was a good year at Crater of Diamonds SP

 

By Margi Jenks

 

As we look back at 2011, it has been a good year for the Crater of Diamonds State Park.  Almost 105,000 people decided to come visit the park to look for a diamond--in record-setting heat in June, July and August, and in cold rains and snow in January, February, and December. 

 

The year contained two highlights.  In April a Colorado woman, who is a regular diamond mine visitor, was delighted to find an 8.66 carat white diamond in her bucket of dirt.  She called it the Illusion Diamond, and it took its place in the record books as the third largest diamond to be found since the diamond mine became a state park in 1972.  It even made the front cover of the British Daily Mail newspaper, on the same day the Prince William and Kate were married.  The second highlight was the reopening of our visitor center in January.  With an expanded gift shop and more office and work space, the visitor center is set to welcome our visitors for another 40 years.  In October we also opened a brand new set of visitor center exhibits, which now focuses on the history and geology of our Arkansas diamond field. 

 

Despite three months of drought and heat, sometimes topping 110 degrees, our visitors have continued to find diamonds.  We will probably reach close to 600 diamonds for the year with an amazing 30 diamonds measuring over one carat. 

 

Some changes are not as noticeable as the visitor center remodeling.  An important one for our staff was enclosing the open-air tool rental desk at the Diamond Discovery Center.  Despite our best efforts with portable heaters and air conditioners, the tool rental desk staff has suffered whenever the temperatures rose or fell.  So, by making the rental equipment room temperature controlled, our staff now finds it much easier to help our visitors.  This project was accomplished by our maintenance department and was a small part of the reason that the maintenance staff won the the award for the best maintenance department in the state park system for the third time in seven years.  After the visitor center reopened, the maintenance department turned the picnic pavilion back to its original purpose, but kept the heating and air conditioning.  Therefore, during the summer and fall groups have rented the pavilion for wedding receptions, birthday parties, and even a reunion of disabled Arkansas veterans. 

 

We have had a lot of fun in 2011 with lots of programs for our visitors.  During the summer we held evening pool parties each month in our Diamond Springs Water Park.  Our yearly celebration of our diamond prospectors, the Prospector Gemboree, was held this year in conjunction with the Murfreesboro Diamond Festival and the Crater Gem and Mineral Show.  For the first time in years we held a day camp in July.  In August we held the first John Huddleston Heritage Day which highlights the pre-park history of the diamond mine.  We plan to make that an annual event.

 

Finally, our visitors keep surprising and delighting us.  Several couples started new relationships with marriage proposals out on the diamond field.  In June a film crew shot a pilot for a reality show.  In July Little Rock TV channel 7 brought their morning show live to the Crater (at 5:00 AM).  In October a couple brought their pet llamas to help them dig for diamonds (and yes, we have pictures).  And the rest of our visitors from all parts of the United States and many foreign countries brought their dreams of finding that big diamond and their enjoyment of the diamond hunting experience despite the heat, cold, rain, snow, sunburns, and heat exhaustion.  The Crater staff is looking forward to 2012 when the next visitor will amaze and amuse us.                                                       

 

Search area last plowed:  October 20, 2011; Most recent heavy rain:  December 26, 2011

 

Total diamonds found in 2011: 554

 

Diamonds registered for December 18-December 25, 2011 (100 points = 1carat): 

 

December 18 - Al & Ella Bell, Murfreesboro, AR, 5 pt. brown

 

December 19 - Bill and Sarah Moore, Murfreesboro, AR, 4 pt. white, 6 pt. brown, 19 pt. white, 26 pt. white, 39 pt. brown; Jim Graham, Prescott, AR, 2 pt. white, 3 pt. white, 8 pt. white

 

December 21 - Al & Ella Bell, Murfreesboro, AR, 4 pt. brown

 

December 22 - Al & Ella Bell, Murfreesboro, AR, 39 pt. brown

 

December 23 - David Anderson, Murfreesboro, AR, 5 pt. white, 10 pt. white, 42 pt. white; Bill and Sarah Moore, Murfreesboro, AR, 20 pt. white