Park official offers advice for diamond hunts

With freezing February temperatures, it’s hard to believe that spring is just about a month away, said Waymon Cox, park interpreter for the Crater of Diamonds State Park. He offered several tips for those planning to visit the park in March and April.

“Plan to arrive early. The park opens at 8 a.m. and gets busy quickly during spring break. The earlier you arrive, the less time you’ll spend buying tickets and renting tools before beginning your diamond search. Be sure and see the diamonds on display in our visitor center and Diamond Discovery Center to get an idea of what you’ll be searching for,” he said.

Visitors who arrive in Murfreesboro the day before they plan to search might consider making a preview visit to the park. Admission to the diamond search area purchased after 3 p.m. this time of year is also good for the following day. The search area closes at 4 p.m. daily, and many visitors spend this final hour familiarizing themselves with the field and deciding where they want to search the next day, he said.

“As we’ve experienced in the past couple weeks, temperatures can fluctuate greatly in just a few hours this time of year. Seventy-degree days are common in spring, but don’t be surprised by freezing weather and occasional snow flurries. Check the weather forecast before your visit, and pack the right clothes to be comfortable outside. Wear old shoes or rubber boots, especially if rain is in the mix. If you plan to wet sift for diamonds, wear thick rubber gloves to keep your hands dry and warm in cold water.”

The park rents all of the necessary tools to search for diamonds, but visitors can bring their own mining equipment. Many visitors bring buckets, shovels or small hand tools from home to help offset the cost of rental equipment; some even bring their own colanders or homemade screens to sift dirt and gravel. A fine 1/16inch screen mesh will catch most diamonds at the park while allowing dirt to sift through.

“Mining for diamonds at the crater is a lot of fun, but did you know that you can continue your diamond searching experience at home? After sifting gravel at the park, keep it in a bucket or other container to take home and carefully search through later,” Cox said.

“To help conserve the park’s resources, unsifted dirt may not be removed from the Crater of Diamonds search area. However, the park allows each paid visitor to keep up to five gallons of sifted gravel, per day. Believe it or not, about half of all diamonds found by visitors are discovered in sifted gravel taken home from the park,” he said.