by Waymon Cox

 

  Greetings from Crater of Diamonds State Park!  As the Crater celebrates its 40^th year as a state park in 2012, we’re looking forward to hundreds of diamond discoveries in the months to come.  Each year, stories of unique diamond finds educate and inspire thousands of park visitors who step foot into the diamond search area.  In 2011 we had many diamond discoveries, including the following five diamonds which weighed over two carats each.

 

  The fifth-largest diamond of 2011 was discovered on March 20, when Kenny & Melissa Oliver, two weekend visitors from Rosston, Arkansas, found a triangular, 2.44-carat frosted white diamond while wet sifting dirt from the East Drain of the search area.  Due to the diamond’s silver-white color, and because it was discovered during the weekend of a full moon “supermoon” event, the couple named their gem the Silver Moon Diamond.

 

 

 

 

 

  The following month became one of the most successful of the year for diamond finders.  On April 7, Murfreesboro resident and regular park visitor Billy Moore discovered the third-largest diamond of the year, also from the East Drain.  While wet sifting with two friends from Florida, he came across the gem, a shiny, 3.86-carat white diamond shaped like a heart.  Moore decided to name his diamond the Heart of Arkansas, as an homage to his home state and because of its beautiful shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  On April 26, Beth Gilbertson, of Salida, Colorado, unearthed what became the year’s largest diamond, and the third-largest found since 1972!  She was wet sifting dirt from the Beatty’s Hill portion of the search area when she found an 8.66-carat white, trapezoidal diamond the size of her thumbnail.  Though Gilbertson had found other Crater diamonds, she didn’t immediately recognize the big stone as a diamond when she first saw it.  Thinking it was glass, she picked up the diamond and rolled it in her hand.  According to Gilbertson, “The illusion materialized” as she realized she had found a very large gem, so she named it the Illusion Diamond.

 

  The second-largest diamond of 2011 was found on November 28, as a group of four friends led by Daniel J. Kinney III, of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Thayer Walker, of San Francisco, unearthed a yellow 6.67-carat cubical gem in the West Drain of the search area.  It is the ninth largest diamond discovered since 1972!  When Walker first saw the gem while wet sifting, he showed it to Kinney, who exclaimed, “It’s a diamond, and oh my gosh, it’s huge!” Because all four friends had been involved in digging and washing the dirt to find the diamond, they named it the Teamwork Diamond.

 

 

  The final large Crater diamond find of 2011 came on the morning of December 12, when David Anderson, a regular park visitor from Murfreesboro, found a 3.83-carat pear-shaped yellow diamond.  It marked the 30^th diamond weighing over one carat found during the year.  Anderson was washing the first bucket of dirt from a hole he dug in the East Drain when he saw the diamond shining in his quarter-inch mesh screen.  He noted that he’s found several diamonds at the park:  “This is my sixth diamond weighing over one carat, but this one is the largest of all my diamond finds.” Originally from Kent City, Michigan, Anderson named his gem the Wolverine Diamond for his favorite football team, the University of Michigan Wolverines.

 

  In all, 560 diamonds were registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2011.  Our park staff is looking forward to seeing many more beautiful diamonds and sharing news of these finds in 2012.  Through these stories, we hope to encourage you to experience the Crater for yourselves this year as one of Arkansas’s most unique destinations celebrates 40 years!

 

 

Search area last plowed:  October 20, 2011

 

Most recent significant precipitation:  December 27, 2011

 

Diamond finds for January 2 - 7, 2012 (100 points = one carat):

 

January 2 - Al & Ella Bell, Murfreesboro, AR, 7 pt. yellow; Kenneth Shoemaker, Murfreesboro, AR, 0.7 pt. white, 0.8 pt. white, 2 pt. white, 2 pt. white

 

January 6 - Blakely Bradshaw, West Helena, AR, 9 pt. white; Steven Authur Tapley II, Greenbrier, AR, 2 pt. yellow

 

January 7 - Kenneth Shoemaker, Murfreesboro, AR, 3 pt. brown