Mt. Ida, Arkansas, the Quartz Crystal Capital of the World

On the transit from Oklahoma City to Little Rock, AR. it was one of those times when you could spend a lot more time at a place or places than you have allocated.   Who knew?  There are a lot of gemstones in Arkansas.

We were traveling from Oklahoma City to Little Rock.  Twiggy's friend, Rachel, who grew up in Little Rock, had recommended going to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro as something to do for the kids.  So we plugged it into the GPS and aimed the Great White Sienna Steed toward the diamond fields of Arkansas.   I can't say we did a lot of research of things to do around Little Rock and we were winging it as we went along, thinking this might be a good, healthy activity for the kids but we really didn't know what we should be bringing along or what exactly it entailed.  The kids have had a fascination with crystals/rocks/geodes for as long as I can remember.  Reagan, at a very early age, started her rock and crystal collection and has been adding to it over the past 6 or 7 years.  I believe this may be true for all kids, given every time we visit a tourist spot there's usually a bin of polished rocks that you can pick and purchase by the pouch and there are always kids around it.

Location of Mt. Ida,  AR

In transit, we came across the small town of Mt. Ida which, as we discovered,  is the quartz crystal capital of the U.S. and is known worldwide by rockhounds for its quartz deposits.  "Literally", as Joe Biden would say,  Mt. Ida mines supply virtually all the quartz crystals to shops ranging from incense burning meditation shops in the Haight District of San Francisco, to high end rock shops from Monterey, CA to Soho, NY, as well as internationally.  Crystals are a big business, and many of the mines sell individual pieces, ranging from $20 to $75,000, directly from their  website (e.g. Jim Coleman mines).  

Driving into the town from the west we passed a rock shop with make-shift tables of thousands of large quartz crystals out front.  Given the kid's affinity toward rocks and crystals we decided to swing around and take a look.  Remember, at this point we have no idea of what is ahead of us or where we are other than somewhere between Ft. Smith and Murfreesboro.  

The proprietor of the rock shop in Mt. Ida

The store's proprietor was a gregarious man of about 80 who was missing his bottom two front teeth.  He was wearing a pair of overalls and he was fond of tucking his hands behind the bib.  He and his son dig up the crystals from an area in which they lease the mineral rights about 8 miles from his store.  He has tables and tables of these crystals which are sorted by quality and color and marked with prices accordingly.  As the kids are browsing around the store, we are speaking and I learn a lot about him -- among other things that he has 8 kids, 26 grandkids and he has lived in South Dakota and Alaska as well as Arkansas.  Anyway, an hour-and-a-half later we leave his humble store with more than a handful of crystals, about 8 lbs. plus or minus.  

By the way, shortly after leaving the first store, we quickly learned how ubiquitous these types of stores are in this area.  We passed numerous similar shops on the way to his son's place, including houses with tables out front displaying quartz crystals for sale.

Arkansas Quartz Crystals

The kids have always liked geodes in particular -- they are like Christmas presents, you never know what's inside when you break it open.  Half the fun is in the mystery.  This store did not have any, but his son had a store that was eight miles away so we decided to stop in there along the way to Crater of Diamonds.  His son's wife, Brenda, greeted us and let us into their shop called Stikx and Stones.  It was more upscale than the previous store with a wider variety of rocks and minerals.  We learned a lot of things during our hour or so in the shop, including how to choose a geode that is more likely to be hollow; how the quartz crystals are mined, and generally, how friendly Arkansas people are.  By the time we left her shop, it was around 2:30 and about 100 degrees outside.  Brenda warned us that going to Crater of the Diamonds so late in the day and in the heat might not be the best idea with the kids.  We asked about some of the other areas locally where you can "mine your own" and she was kind enough to point out a few.  She recommended one that while she did not particularly care for the owner (she indicated his name was Richard Wegner, but the people in the area refer to him as Richard Cranium or sometimes Ricardo Cabeza) but she said everybody liked all the staff working there and that people having gone there seemed to enjoy it -- Wegner Crystal Mines

It was already too late to do this that day, so we made a unilateral decision to drive two hours back in the opposite direction the next day so we could mine for crystals.  This decision would add an additional 5 to 6 hours to our drive that day to Nashville, TN, possibly more because it was Labor Day Weekend, but we figured this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids and they would probably never return to Mt. Ida, AR in their lifetime to mine for crystals.  After signing in at the office and getting a rudimentary set of equipment for each person (including a 5-gallon plastic bucket, a pair of gloves, a small garden shovel and a lug nut wrench to use as a crow bar) we piled into the back of a truck and drove up a bumpy and dusty backroad into the mine area.  When we jumped out of the truck and started walking towards the fields, we could immediately see small pieces of crystals underneath our feet, sparkling like diamonds in the red dirt.  The mine area consisted of three or four football field sized areas of the hillside that were gone through with a backhoe or some kind of other tractor to expose the crystals.  The ground was glistening with quartz crystals although you could not tell the ultimate size of the crystal or whether they were worth keeping yet.  So we all spread out and started digging.  

The family in search of quartz crystals

It was really, really hot.  In fact, sweltering is probably the appropriate word -- about 100 degrees and with high humidity.  I have never sweated so much simply sitting in the shade. I felt like a human sponge that someone was squeezing.  

Regardless, we all left with crystals of yet-known quality (most of them are still covered in various stages of red mud) and memories of an interesting experience.

The crystals will have to undergo an acid wash upon our return to Rye.  Many of you may be receiving quartz crystal paperweights for Christmas given  our minivan is now hauling about 50 lbs. of red mud-covered rock from Arkansas.

Campbell mining

First impressions: 1) The two states we have been in so far during this trip that are underrated are South Dakota and Arkansas.  Our drive through Arkansas was very pretty.  There were some reasonable mountains with dense pine forests as well as interesting geology.  Both states could use better marketing.  2) Arkansas people are friendly and gregarious (so much so that I think a good Dr. Evil experiment would be to switch a Wyoming cowboy with an Arkansan for a month or so and see the outcome for both).  3) Seemingly, there are more Mexican restaurants here than in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  Also we have seen more shaved ice places in Arkansas than any place outside of Hawaii.