![]() ![]() The spectacular Berns Quartz is one of many enormous pieces of crystal found by professional miners, some worth millions of dollars. At the unveiling, Kirk Johnson, museum director, said its dramatic appearance makes it one of the “most striking visual experiences in the museum,” and that the museum was thrilled to have it join such iconic pieces as the Hope Diamond and the museum’s Tyrannosaurus rex.Īrkansas’ world-famous quartz runs the gamut. At 8,000 pounds, it’s one of the largest pieces of quartz on display at any museum. The gigantic cluster of thousands of sparkling crystals, named the Berns Quartz, came to Washington, D.C., from Ron Coleman Mining in Jessieville. Last October, a stunning, 7-foot-tall piece of quartz was unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Although every quartz crystal is millions of years old, until that moment of unearthing, it has never been seen by human eyes. Quartz mining in Arkansas began about 200 years ago, but geologists say most Arkansas quartz crystals formed around 200 million years ago. ![]() The greatest concentration of quartz is in a 30- to 40-mile-wide band through Central Arkansas extending to eastern Oklahoma, largely overlapping the Ouachitas. Arkansas may sometimes be called “The Diamond State,” but quartz crystal is the official State Mineral.Īn Arkansas Geological Survey brochure, “Arkansas Quartz Crystals,” reports that when explorer Hernando de Soto arrived in the area in 1541, his men discovered quartz weapon tips used by American Indians. Quartz crystals are indeed “all over” dozens of Arkansas mines, most of them concentrated in the mineral-rich Ouachita Mountains. On the way to his vehicle, a Tahoe with Ohio plates, he tells a young couple headed toward the dig-your-own crystals site, “This bucket is full! You wouldn’t believe how many we found. A man in his mid-50s, navigating heaps of red clay at Wegner Crystal Mines in Mount Ida, has to set down his 5-gallon bucket and readjust his position, wiping afternoon sweat from his brow. ![]() Check rock shops along the byways in the Ouachita Mountains for local quartz and collectible minerals, like this cluster of crystals unearthed at Wegner Crystal Mines in Mount Ida. ![]()
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