Diamond James Archer
The Crater of Diamonds
State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas is the only known diamond crater in North
America. It’s the only place in the world one can go in, pay a small fee, and
keep what you find.
Back during my diamond mining days in the late 1970’s, I was fortunate enough to buddy up with, and work alongside the most famous Arkansas diamond hunter of all time. A lot of what I learned by watching James Archer enabled me to find my first two diamonds during that first three day trip, the first being my largest find ever, a beautiful 1.00 carat canary diamond. During those three days, I was determined to learn as much as possible from this legendary diamond hunter, and be just like James Archer. Alas, I failed miserably.
James Archer made his
first trip to the Crater of Diamonds by horse and wagon, seventy some odd years
ago. Later on in life, he and his wife came there again, determined to
find a diamond. He failed, but his wife did find one. This galvanized his
determination to find a diamond. He surface hunted for two years, off and on,
and never found one, gently being teased about that by his wife the
whole time. When he changed to digging deep holes, and washing the mud through
screens, He quickly became successful, finding his first two, a 1.7 carat and a
1.71 carat brown diamond, all in the same day. In the early 1970’s, he worked
at a sawmill, unloading railroad ties by hand, then going to the diamond mine
to dig after work. At one point, he was not at the mine for two days. When he
returned, his arm was in a sling. His hand had almost been severed at the saw
mill. He should have been at home recuperating, but the hard working James
was not the type to ever sit still. He could not stay away from the crater.
When he returned to the sawmill, they
told him they no longer had a job for him. This was a turning point in his
life. He decided to become a diamond hunter, six days a week, every week. The
number of diamonds found varies from one report to another, but the best
estimate given by park officials was 5,000.
As I said, I met James and worked alongside
him for three days in 1979. The characteristics I noticed about James that were
not present in anyone else seemed to be that he worked very hard, very fast,
all day long, every day. For thirty years. I did meet one other man who
compared to James in most of these categories, except that he always kept a
full time job otherwise, and he’s still raising a family, so he does not get to
go every day. Henry Emison and his wife Lori were digging away when I met
them. They were beginners at that time, but they quickly changed all that. Henry
soon was recognized by all other diamond hunters on the field as a digging
machine, a true man among men. He could work all day at his job landscaping,
then drive to the mine and do as much work as we fully human diggers could do
in a day. Of course, he quickly found a lot of diamonds. At one time, they
moved to my rental house at Gurdon, Arkansas, partially because they loved that
130 year old, six bedroom brick house. But mostly because it was close to the
diamonds.
What is it about rare, driven men like James
and Henry that makes supermen out of them when they step onto that diamond
field? I wish I knew. I would buy up a few gallons of it and enhance my own
diamond collection a bit. Henry moved to the other side of Arkansas, because
that was where his job was, a few years ago. But I know he’s still not out of
range of that diamond mine, so we still don’t know how his lifetime collection
will look.
James told me the
story of finding a very nice diamond on his screen just as two rough looking
and talking men walked up. James, a black man, had been treated badly by such
men in the past. Afraid they might try to take it away from him, he simply
dropped it in the bucket of fine sand he would be taking home to look over
closely that night. He was never able to find it again.
In 1994 James unearthed a very nice
5.25 carat diamond. This was, officially, his largest find. But, when a
story came out about him in the National Enquirer, it was said he had found a
7.9 carat diamond. When asked about that later, he stated, “Well, they did get
things sorta messed up in that story, all right. About my age and stuff. But I
did find that 7.9 carat diamond.” When pressed about this, James related this
story.
“One
morning several years back, I was out here in the parking lot
getting ready to go in one morning when it opened. A man started talking to me,
telling me he was here to find the largest diamond he could, and buy it for his
girlfriend for her engagement ring.”
“I
told him I didn’t have any diamonds on me now, but maybe we’ll find one today.”
James went on to say, “A lot of folks talk big like that. But when it comes
down to it, they don’t have the money to back up their talk. James continued
his story.
“So the park opened it’s
doors, and we both went in and bought our ticket, and went into the mine. When
we got to the search area, he turned left and I turned right. I only went a
couple of hundred feet before I saw something shining at me. I went over
and picked it up. It was a big, canary diamond, sitting right on top of the
ground. I shouted, “Hey, mister! I got a big ‘un for ya.”
The
man came over, said he wanted to buy it as soon as he saw it. He asked, “How
much ya’ want for it?”
James said, “I didn’t even know how much
it weighed, and I usually set my price on that. So I just said, $7000. Then
that fella reached in his pocket, and pulled out a huge roll of money. He
counted out 70 100 dollar bills into my hand. When he was finished, that man’s
roll looked as big as it did when he started peeling bills off’a there. I
said to myself, “I shoulda’ said $10,000. But I didn’t know he really had the
money. The man took the diamond and never registered it at the park office. I
heard from him later, and he’d had it cut and set in that ring. He said the
jeweler weighed it before it was cut and it was 7.9 carats.”
A lot of people have been wondering for a
long time about just how well James has done. Tourists have been
trying to pry that out of him six days a week for 30 years. Most people don’t
like having people trying to get information about their business, and James
was no different. We do know he never lived in a mansion, or bought a new
truck.
When
tourists ask, “Is it true all your children graduated from college?”
James just said, “That’s what they say.” When asked later how many children he
had, he said, “seven.” Is it true they all graduated college? “Yep. And my wife
will graduate college this year.” Seems James did not invest his money in
himself, but invested in his family’s future.
On
Wednesday, January 8, 2003, James Archer went into the Crater of Diamonds State
Park as he had for thirty years. And, at the age of 77, he died there
doing what he loved, digging for diamonds. The Crater will probably never
see a more diligent, consistent, determined prospector than Diamond James
Archer. And I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work alongside
James, and learn much about diamond hunting, and about life, if only for three
days.
Rest
well, James. Your accomplishments at the Crater of Diamonds State Park will never
be equaled. Nor will I ever find a nicer guy on that diamond field.
*Some info about James Archer for this story came from - “A thorough and accurate History of Diamond Mining in Arkansas” written by Glen W. Worthington. Published by Mid America Prosprecting, Murfreesboro, Ar. 71958
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