[HN Gopher] Digging for Diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Par... ___________________________________________________________________ Digging for Diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas Author : axiomdata316 Score : 27 points Date : 2021-05-23 05:22 UTC (17 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.afar.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.afar.com) | [deleted] | arwhatever wrote: | I often wanted to go do this as a child growing up in Arkansas. | | In hindsight, each time I would bring it up my parents would have | something of an "oh shit, anything but that!" reaction and would | quickly distract me with some other activity or suggestion, and | to date I've never been. | | I'm certain that to them, the suggestion was essentially to drive | several hours out and back to play in the dirt. | | (this article is well-written and quite interesting, btw) | keanebean86 wrote: | I grew up in Arkansas too. I've went digging twice. Once as a | kid and again in my early 20s. Funny enough I woke up with | horrible back pain the second time and was basically worthless | the whole day. My wife hated the whole ordeal so we've not been | back. | teruakohatu wrote: | There many videos on Youtube by hobbiests who frequent the park. | It is back breaking work. The park rangers rightly prevent any | modern, or even hobbiest, mining automation. | | > was encouraged to keep the stone in its rough form--no | polishing, no cutting. "It's a beautiful chocolate diamond," | Kinard says. "It's a nine-carat diamond. Those are very rare, and | very hard to come by. | | It might not be worth very much. Diamonds are not rare, are not | particularly beautiful when uncut. The valuable diamonds are the | diamonds that can be cut to produce a flawless gem. | ezzaf wrote: | Visitation numbers from the article: | | "Despite the challenges and restrictions of the COVID pandemic, | 129,218 people traveled to Crater of Diamonds in 2020 for what | was a record-breaking year, with more than 80 carats of diamonds | unearthed" | | At $10 a visit the entrance fees add up to a lot more than the | value of diamonds found. Kind of like a lottery, but more | interactive. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-05-23 23:00 UTC)