Crater Of Diamonds State Park

Yes. The park's finders-keepers policy means any rock, mineral or diamond you find in the 37-acre search area is yours to take home regardless of value. Staff at the Diamond Discovery Center will identify finds free of charge, and they document significant diamonds, but the stone stays with you.

Admission is charged per person, running to roughly $15 for adults, with children under 6 admitted free. Digging equipment rents separately: the park offers basic and advanced kits in the $15 to $20 range plus individual tools. Camping in the 47-site campground is billed separately.

Just after heavy rain, in spring or fall. Rain washes lighter soil off heavier stones and leaves diamonds sitting on the surface, which is how many of the larger finds are made. The search area is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, closed on major holidays.

Amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate and quartz turn up far more often than diamonds, and all of them fall under the same finders-keepers policy. Diamonds themselves occur in three natural colors at this site: white, brown and yellow.

The search field is the eroded surface of a lamproite volcanic pipe, a rare structure that carried diamonds up from deep in the mantle. It is the only such deposit in the world open to public searching, which is why this is the only place the public can hunt diamonds in their original source rock.

On average one or two a day across all visitors, though it varies enormously with weather and season. More than 37,000 diamonds have been found since the site became a state park in 1972. Most are small, well under a carat, and most visitors leave with amethyst, jasper or quartz rather than a diamond.

The park teaches three at the Diamond Discovery Center: surface searching, dry sifting and wet sifting. Wet sifting is the most productive because it concentrates heavy material, though it is also the muddiest and most physical. Surface searching works best right after heavy rain, which washes soil off heavier stones.

The Uncle Sam, at 40.23 carats, found in 1924 before the site became a state park. It remains the largest diamond ever found in the United States. Other named stones from the field include the Star of Murfreesboro and the Strawn-Wagner, which was cut to a perfect grade.

No. The park rents basic and advanced diamond-hunting kits in roughly the $15 to $20 range, plus individual tools. Bringing your own works too: a bucket, screen set, trowel, knee pads, gloves and a change of clothes cover most of what wet sifting requires.

Yes. The park has 47 campsites, including sites with hookups, plus walking trails, a gift shop and the seasonal Diamond Springs Water Park. Book ahead for spring and autumn, which are both the most comfortable digging seasons and the busiest.

The answer collectors give is that it depends on what you expect to take home. People who treat it as a diamond lottery mostly come away disappointed, because the realistic odds on any single day are low. People who treat it as a day of sifting where amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate and quartz are all yours to keep, in the only place on earth the public can hunt diamonds in their source rock, consistently describe it as worth the admission.

This is the single most repeated piece of advice about the park. Heavy rain washes lighter soil off heavier stones and leaves diamonds sitting on the surface, and a significant share of larger finds are made by people walking the field in the days immediately after a storm rather than by sifting. The trade is that the plowed field turns to heavy mud, so people who plan around rain also plan for boots and a change of clothes.