In southwest Arkansas, the state government runs what might be the world’s most unusual diamond mine. For the price of a movie ticket, anyone can dig for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park—and keep whatever they find. The Crater of Diamonds site hosted multiple commercial mining attempts between 1906 (when John Wesley Huddleston found the first diamonds) and the park’s opening in 1972. Crater of Diamonds State Park entrance signage. Since Arkansas turned this geological oddity into a state park in 1972, visitors have found more than 35,000 diamonds.