Crystal Mining

I really was naive about crystal mining before my first experience in Arkansas. I thought we would take a pick ax into a big hole in the ground and chop crystals out of the rock. All the crystals mines are open pit mines and only back hoes, front end loaders, dump trucks and mine employees are allowed in the actual mines. The heavy equipment tears apart the rock foundation and after the best crystals and clusters are removed, the excess rock, dirt, mud and unwanted and damaged crystals are loaded into a dump truck and hauled to a dumping area. And that's were we came in.

Our favorite mine is the Coleman Mine just south of Jessieville Arkansas. For $20 (or $15 if you are Jack's age) you can dig in the dirt and mud for an entire day. Anything you find and value is yours to keep! We like this mine best because occasionally the miners let an awesome cluster or point slip through. And, the gift shop - complete with bathroom facilities - is located a short walk up the hill. Most of the other mines in the area do not have facilities...

Our first experience at the Coleman mine in May was pretty mild. The dump truck brought up rock and dirt and dumped it at our feel. We got down on our hands and knees and began digging with our little hand tools. We had to look carefully through the pile as the crystals were usually covered in orange clay, or at the very least - dirt. When the sun shined, we could see a sparkle - but when the clouds rolled in we had to go more by touch - feeling for the smooth surfaces of the crystal. We dug away and cleaned the orange clay off anything we found- we never knew when there might be a cluster hiding! By the end of the day we were exhausted but content. Our hands were covered in small and painful cuts from the edges of the sharp crystals. The rest of us was covered in red dirt. It's hard to tell what you have until you get the clay and mud rinsed from the crystals so we took our pile of treasures back to our campground and began washing off the mud. We found that a lot of what we thought were gorgeous crystals turned out to be what we called garden quality rock-not so perfect crystals but great for placing out in the garden.

On our second visit in October, we figured we knew how to play the game. We wore special gloves to protect our fingers and packed larger shovels and hand rakes. We had plastic for the car seats and bags to store everything in. We were not prepared for the load dumped at our feet that first Sunday. We knew we were in for a wild experience when the dump truck pulled to a stop beside us and water sloshed over the sides. We were told the backhoe hit a natural spring and everything coming out of the mine from that point forward would be mud. The more experienced miners pulled out full sized shovels and hoes. We crawled through the mud on our hands and knees, feeling our way. We didn't even make it to the end of the day. We were so dirty we had to be hosed off before even getting close the car. Fortunately we had a change of clothes so we headed to the campground to shower. Our first stop was the laundry mat where everything, including our shoes, went into the wash machine.

When we went back to the mine the following Saturday we were rewarded with a nice dry load of dirt and rock. We spent the entire day going through the pile and were rewarded with about 100 points - many of them crystal clear! We were flying home the next day didn't want to pay to fly our crystals home, so we stopped at our land and strategically dumped our load under the tallest pine tree we could find. We are hoping they will still be there when we return.

We think we have this crystal mining figured out now. When we return again, we will go with buckets of water for washing - that way we can leave the junk rock at the mine. We will take all our tools - from hand shovels to full size hoes. Crystals thrown into a bag get chipped and damaged so next time we will bring newspaper or paper towels to protect the really nice ones. (Can you believe some people actually bring Pampers for this!?) And, to haul it all around, we will get a big red wagon... It's a good thing we own a station wagon - my first project on our land will be to build a labyrinth out of the white quartz garden rock. I am so excided our land is only about 12 miles from the mine. Then again, I wonder if they have an organization called Miners Anonymous. I'm hooked!