Whether you come for a day of Herkimer diamond-digging adventure or a unique camping experience, your visit to 479MangRoad™ will surely be a memorable one! We offer a family and fun mining to guests whom camp on 479MangRoad™ in conjunction with local Herkimer diamond mines.
Herkimer diamond is a generic name for a double-terminated quartz crystal discovered within exposed outcrops of dolostone in and around Herkimer County, New York and the Mohawk River Valley. Because the first discovery sites were in the village of Middleville and in the city of Little Falls, respectively, the crystal is also known as a Middleville diamond or a Little Falls diamond.
Herkimer diamonds became largely recognized after workmen discovered them in large quantities while cutting into the Mohawk River Valley dolostone in the late 18th century. Geologists discovered exposed dolostone in Herkimer County and began mining there. The popularity of mining for double-terminated quartz in the Herkimer County outcroppings is what led to the name, Herkimer diamonds. Currently, Herkimer diamonds can be found in large quantity in at least Herkimer, Fulton, and Montgomery counties, and double-pointed quartz crystals have also been found in abundance in Tibet and Afghanistan, as well as in other countries.
Many of the New York crystals are known for their extreme clarity, and Wiccan and New Age belief systems often ascribe specific occult properties and a wide variety of mystical powers to them.
These quartz crystals, which geologists theorize formed extremely slowly in small solution cavities or vugs, have 18 facets (6 sides) and two terminations. There are also larger cavities that are several feet in diameter that are called “pockets”. Herkimer diamonds are found clear, cloudy, smoky or even containing a variety of rare impurities. Impurities (rare and general) can include clusters, scepters, fluid inclusions (sometimes incorrectly called enhydros), phantom, and bridge crystals. A fluid inclusion is a pocket within a crystal containing liquid, usually water, sometimes also methane or oil, and rarely, smaller crystals. A phantom is a crystal containing other visible crystals of the same type, a skeletal crystal contains a series of crystal edge outlines inside the crystal and a hopper crystal has its faces replaced by a step like pattern.
You can prospect for your very own world famous Herkimer Diamonds at an above ground, surface mines in Herkimer, NY!
Prospecting Admission Rates:
$12.00 per person for ages 13 and up
$10.00 per person for ages 5 to 12
Free for children 4 and under
Your Admission Includes:
An all day prospecting wristband ticket, use of a rock hammer, all day museum entrance, zip lock bags, and mining information. (Goggles are available for purchase.)
Sluicing Bags:
Fossil Bag – $12.00 each bag
Gemstone Bag – $12.00 each bag
Herkimer Diamond Dirt Bag – $12.00 each bag
Mega Mine Bucket – $75.00 each bucket
Keep everything you find!
Diamond Activity Center
After you find your diamonds, visit the Diamond Activity Center for jewelry classes, appraisals, geode cracking and more!
To mine for herkimer diamonds in the summer of 2017 & 2018 email us today homeskape@gmail.com. Herkimer diamond mining is brought to you in conjunction with Herkimer Diamond Mines.