Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Diamond Day 1 of 2


We made it to Crater of Diamonds State Park.  We are planning on staying here for 2 nights, but that could change, well because we can.  Lol 
We only have one bar of 3G for internet so we have to go McDonalds for dinner (darn)so I can send my blog out.  So how this works is I pick the pics I want and put them in a special folder in the computer.  Then I go into Word or some program like that and write all the information to go with the pics and then copy and paste and maybe retype or add to and put it all onto my blog and publish it so you can read it. I have been told that we are not coming into town tomorrow so maybe no blog, sad yes.
 

Before I tell you all about the diamond field I must take you back to the gardens just outside Hot Springs, Arkansas.  They had a train display of the companies in the area at the time the creator was living.  In fact she owned two of the companies that were established in the 1800’s.  The first pic is the Arkansas-Wisconsin Lumber Company she owned at one time.  It burned to the ground and this is where the bricks came from for the beautiful path I mentioned in my last blog.  The next pic is Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs.  And the last two pics are of the Malvern Brick and Tile Company that is still in business today.    I just do not want to make the blogs too big so sometimes I must leave out stuff.  And the write-ups have holes in them because I forget or no room. Mostly I forget.
 
 
 

This pic is the inside of an art studio next to the post office.  We mailed the grand kids their monthly package.  I could not believe the size of that beautiful rock. 





 

 Sally, we put the car thingy to cover the tow thingies and it looks really cool.  Hope everyone understands the technical language. LOL

The State Park is really nice and reasonably priced too.  The sites are paved and level, that level stuff is very important.  They have full hook-ups, which means water electric (30 and 50 amp) and sewer.  Besides the diamond field they have great trails and other things to do. 

I will give you some more personal information about the area tomorrow when we are out and about in the diamond field. 
Visitors from around the world search for diamonds in a 37 acre field.  Here, a massive volcano brought diamonds to the surface of the earth.  This world famous site is the only diamond-producing area in North America open to the public. 
Over 75,000 diamonds have been found at “the Crater”, an eroded volcanic pipe.  On average 700 diamonds are found each year. 

Some of the diamonds are:
1924  Uncle Sam at 40.23 carats, the largest diamond found in North America.
          Many more I will not list
          1998 The Strawn-Wagoner Diamond, a cut white diamond  1.89 carats.  The American Gem Society graded it as flawless a “one in a billion find”.  I am here to find one to out do that one. LOL
Although genuine diamonds are the chief attraction other semi-precious stones can be found, amethyst, agate, jasper, etc. 

There is a small fee to go into the field and look for diamonds.  They give you instructions on how and what to look for and they will also rent you a set of tools needed to do the job right.  Then when you are done and have a mess of precious rocks you can take them in to be analyzed and appraised at no cost.  I will be able to give you more information tomorrow after we see how it is done.   I did get an email from my younger brother on the correct technique for mining diamonds in the field so now we are ready to bring the stones in.

We are staying close to camp until tomorrow because we are under, maybe, can be, a severe thunder storm, tornado watch this afternoon and evening.



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