• Why diamonds can be found at Crater of Diamonds
• The Diamond Rush
• Largest Diamonds - 5 Carats and Over
• Diamond Statistic Summary

History of the Crater of Diamonds State Park

In 1906 John Huddleston found the first diamond at the site of the present-day Crater of Diamonds.

People first began to suspect that diamonds might occur just outside of the quiet town of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, when the precious stones were found in the peridotite soil of Kimberly, South Africa. State Geologist John Branner knew there was an area of peridotite soil just west of Murfreesboro, so he gave the place a thorough surface search in 1889. Unfortunately, he didn't find a diamond.

The first diamonds found in Pike County, Arkansas, were discovered in August 1906 by John Wesley Huddleston. These stones were sent to Charles S. Stifft, a Little Rock jeweler and confirmed to be genuine diamonds. Stifft described them as blue-white diamonds, one weighing 2-5/8 carats and the other 1-3/8 carats. To verify his opinion, Stifft sent them to New York and states that "…after subjecting them to every test they were pronounced diamonds of fine grade."

Early in 1906, Huddleston, a farmer, purchased the 160-acre McBrayer farm to make a home for his family, a decision that would etch him into history. Huddleston recounted the first diamond finds to Tom Shiras of the Arkansas Gazette: "I was crawling on my hands and knees …when my eyes fell on another glittering pebble…I knew it was different from any I had ever seen before. It had a fiery eye that blazed up at me every way I turned it. I hurried to the house with the pebble, saddled my mule and started for Murfreesboro…riding through the lane, my eye caught another glitter, and I dismounted and picked it up out of the dust."

Huddleston sold his diamond-bearing land for $36,000. According to a book by Howard Millar, It was Finders Keepers at America's Only Diamond Mine, 1976, Huddleston became "… nationally famous, and had acquired the nickname 'Diamond John'." Although he was also known as the "Diamond King," he later met with some misfortunes and died a pauper, but was said to have had no regrets. He is buried in Japany Cemetery, about three miles east of the diamond mine.

The approximate location of Huddleston's first diamond find is designated on the diamond field by a historical marker on the south central mine boundary.

Huddleston's story is perpetuated as a part of the Crater of Diamonds story. He is a unique character in Arkansas history. And, his legend is celebrated in the park's annual June celebration of "John Huddleston Day."

Why diamonds can be found at Crater of Diamonds

The story of the diamonds recovered at the Crater of Diamonds State Park begins over 3 billion years ago with the formation of diamonds as the stable form of carbon in the earth’s mantle. At the tremendous pressures and temperatures some 60 to 100 miles below the earth’s surface, diamond crystallized from carbon, and under those conditions it remained stable.

Basic Geology of the Crater of Diamonds.

During the past 3 billion years, many geologic changes have taken place on the surface of the earth. Crust formed and was destroyed, continents formed and migrated, mountain ranges were built and eroded away. About 300 to 250 million years ago, the continent we now call South America collided with the southern portion of present day North America. This collision formed the Ouachita Mountains from sediments that were deposited in a deep ocean environment. The Ouachitas began to erode and during the Cretaceous Period (144 to 66 million years ago), the southern area of this eroded mountain range was covered by seas and the area of the Park was near-shore, but under shallow seawater. About 100 million years ago, an instability in the Earth’s mantle caused the movement of gas and rock to the surface. This volcanic vent, known as the “Prairie Creek” diatreme by geologists, rose rapidly through the upper mantle and crust, carrying with it fragments of mantle and crustal rocks and minerals, until it came near enough to the surface to explode due to the release of gases. When it exploded, it created an 83-acre funnel-shaped crater with sides sloping inward at about 45 degrees. Much of the airborne material formed by the initial explosion fell back into the vent. The speed of rise of the mass allowed the diamonds to be preserved in this material. Geologists calculate that only about 160 feet of the original vent has been eroded away, concentrating the heavy minerals, including diamond, in the present day soil. Diamonds at the Crater are typically found loose in the soil, having been released during the rapid weathering of this unstable mantle rock.

Kimberlite versus Lamproite

The original host rocks, described from Africa and other sites around the world, including those of the Crater of Diamonds were first described as kimberlite and peridotite. But since the discovery of diamonds in Australian “lamproite rocks”, many of these localities have been reevaluated. The rock types at the Crater have been found to more closely resemble lamproite than was previously known, therefore, we now refer to them as “lamproite rocks”. Differences are subtle and only by detailed scientific studies can they be determined. We suggest you research these rock names on the internet to learn about them.

The Diamond Rush

Arkansas Diamond Company mine photo.

A diamond rush developed as soon as word of the find got out. In fact, the Conway hotel in Murfreesboro is said to have turned away more than 10,000 people who could not be accommodated in just one year. The Tent City of Kimberly was established between Murfreesboro and the diamond field, but nothing remains of it today.

The men who bought the Huddleston property began the Arkansas Diamond Company. However, there were 40 acres of diamond bearing soil that had not been owned by Huddleston. M.M. Mauney owned that land, and he refused to sell. Mauney tried to mine his property, and even allowed visitors to search for a fee. Finally, he sold a 3/4 interest in the property to Horace Bemis who organized the Ozark Diamond Corporation. However, Bemis died soon after, and his heirs weren't interested in diamond mining. Austin Millar and his son Howard bought Bemis' share. The Millars tried to buy out Mauney's 1/4 share but failed.

The Millars built and operated a small commercial plant that was successful until the entire installation was destroyed by arson on January 13, 1919. They were never able to rebuild.

In 1949, the first real attempt was made to open the diamond deposit to the public. The land was leased from the Millars and opened in 1951 as the Diamond Preserve of the United States. Later, the name was changed to the Crater of Diamonds and was successfully run by Mr. and Mrs. Millar. The adjacent property had passed through various owners and was in the hands of Mrs. Ethel Wilkinson of Logansport, Indiana at the time. She opened her property to the public as The Big Mine, and a fierce battle of the billboards began. During the battle of the billboards, both properties fiercely competed with one another by posting billboards. Each attraction's billboard claimed that one was better than the other, was the largest part of the deposit, and so forth.

Finally, in 1969, General Earth Minerals of Dallas, Texas bought both properties. They never operated as a commercial mine, but continued as a private tourist attraction until 1972, when the State Of Arkansas bought the land for a state park for $750,000.

Largest Diamonds since 1972 - 5 Carats and Over

Name	State	Carat Wt.	Ranking	Color	Year
W.W. Johnson	Texas	16.37	1st	White	1975
C. Blankenship	Louisiana	8.82	2nd	White	1981
B. Lamle	Oklahoma	8.61	3rd	Brown	1978
K. Connell	Illinois	7.95	4th	White	1986
M. Dickinson/C. Stevens	Louisiana	7.28	5th	Yellow	1998
T. Dunn	Missouri	6.75	6th	Brown	1975
R. Cooper	Arkansas	6.72	7th	Brown	1997
D. Roden	Texas	6.35	8th	Brown	2006
S. Lee	Arkansas	6.30	9th	White	1988
C. Newman	Arkansas	6.25	10th	White	1981
J. Fedzora	Arkansas	6.23	11th	White	1991
W. Stockton	Kansas	6.20	12th	White	1981
R. Schall	Arkansas	6.07	13th	White	1981
R. Cooper	Arkansas	6.00	14th	Brown	1997
M. Griffin	Illinois	5.90	15th	Brown	1981
L. Hawkins	Texas	5.76	16th	White	1978
G. Snearly	Arkansas	5.63	17th	White	1983
J. Palermo	Louisiana	5.58	18th	Brown	1984
H. Lay	Arkansas	5.57	19th	White	2000
M. Rieff	Arkansas	5.50	20th	White	2000
J. Archer	Arkansas	5.25	21st	Yellow	1994
B. Wehle	Wisconsin	5.47	22nd	Yellow	2006
T. Moore	Oklahoma	5.19	23rd	White	1986
S. Barkley	Arkansas	5.15	24th	White	1980
J. Williamson	Arizona	5.08	25th	Brown	1979
J. Macy	Louisiana	5.00	26th	Yellow	1978
D. Mayes	Arkansas	5.00	27th	White	1978

Crater of Diamonds State Park Diamond Statistics Summary

Year	Total Found	Total CT. Weight	# Over 1 CT.	White	Brown	Yellow	Other	Paid Visitation
1972	135	55.44	12	65	43	12	15	34,664
1973	151	71.20	19	61	31	17	42	35,669
1974	241	90.92	21	126	66	33	16	54,336
1975	663	88.05	34	388	167	88	20	96,452
1976	395	98.95	18	225	94	65	11	93,870
1977	366	141.06	41	212	79	54	21	91,849
1978	611	232.30	40	359	153	96	3	119,844
1979	402	149.87	24	257	68	67	10	93,793
1980	579	190.97	26	400	101	73	5	80,803
1981	1324	238.58	26	838	266	213	7	97,490
1982	1383	264.38	37	886	237	242	18	71,413
1983	1501	312.57	44	796	353	332	20	87,271
1984	1339	202.26	18	776	304	241	18	75,838
1985	699	148.54	24	458	146	91	4	67,532
1986	930	154.21	23	589	168	165	8	73,447
1987	959	160.38	20	617	185	145	12	71,107
1988	1280	185.14	17	762	246	247	25	75,491
1989	1277	176.29	15	836	226	190	25	86,479
1990	1292	265.17	36	847	239	197	9	67,563
1991	442	105.82	10	245	108	78	11	70,133
1992	470	96.36	14	291	101	73	5	67,145
1993	800	144.44	12	432	204	142	22	55,589
1994	1421	192.09	24	832	270	266	53	53,187
1995	813	138.85	16	464	196	131	22	57,786
1996	923	161.35	20	518	226	160	19	61,252
1997	673	130.15	23	363	159	142	9	55,140
1998	506	103.16	14	318	95	86	7	60,705
1999	471	82.60	10	279	85	100	7	50,698
2000	606	130.02	20	390	106	101	9	46,513
2001	543	78.98	12	353	82	104	4	46,260
2002	614	73.79	7	418	105	89	2	45,167
2003	641	128.37	18	388	136	117	0	47,864
2004	383	58.72	5	231	90	62	0	47,373
2005	536	103.43	19	310	137	89	0	51,852
2006	488	117.51	15	295	106	87	0	83,576
2007	1024	252.73	44	698	175	151	0	171,518
Totals:	26,881	5,324.65	778	16,323	5,553	4,546	459	2,546,669