What are the Hours of Operation?

OPEN April 15 through October 31 EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK

Store Hours: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Mine Hours: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Store Hours July 1st Through Labor Day: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

What are the Prospecting and Sluicing Rates/What should I bring and what does admission include?

Prospecting: $10.00 per person for ages 13 and up

$8.00 per person for ages 5 to 12,

Free 4 years old and under

Your Prospecting Admission Includes:

* All day prospecting ticket (remember to keep your wrist badge on!)
* Instructional 7-minute video (please view before you exit store for mines)
* All day museum entrance
* Use of our hammers (1 per person). A hammer deposit (holding your license) applies until hammers are returned.
* Collectors bag.

Sluicing: Fossil Bag $10.00 each bag

Gem Stone Bag $10.00 each bag

Herkimer Diamond Dirt Bag $10.00 each bag

Keep everything you find!

And remember to enjoy our special menu at the

Diamond Café

Hours of Operation

May 13 through September 1 – open daily from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

September 2 through October 31 – open weekends only 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

What are Herkimer Diamonds?

Herkimer Diamonds are beautiful double-terminated quartz crystals found in Herkimer, New York. Incredibly, these phenomenal gemstones are close to five hundred million years old. The crystals are magnificent works of nature, found in the rock, having a diamond - like geometrical shape. Thus, the name recognition of "Herkimer Diamonds".

How are they different from a true diamond?

Herkimer's rival true diamonds. A true diamond found in the rough is exactly that, a rough appearing glass - like stone. The true diamond must be painstakingly cut by man to give it smooth faces and a geometrical shape. On a hardness scale, a true diamond scores a ten. Herkimer Diamonds falls at a seven on the scale, giving the real diamond a close race. They are naturally faceted, each having eighteen facets and 2 points.

How were they formed?

The bedrock in which the crystals are found began forming approximately half a billion years ago in a shallow Cambrian Sea that lapped against the southern shores of the ancestral Adirondack Mountains. The sediments (calcium magnesium carbonate) which slowly accumulated beneath the sea's salty waters were gradually compacted under the weight of thousands of feet of additional sediments, forming the rock strata Little Falls Dolostone. While still beneath the sea, water seeped through the pores of the rock often creating "vugs" by dissolving part of the rock.

What are the collection methods?

The collecting methods range from casually looking along the prospecting area, digging through the rubble energetically, using crowbars, sledgehammers and heavy chisels. The most popular tools are a 2 or 3 lb. crack hammer and a bull point chisel. The most popular method of prospecting for loose Herkimer Diamonds is by breaking them out of a single rock.

What is pocket mining?

Domed pockets mining in the table - layer of the rock is usually very rich with diamonds. Some pockets are known to contain thousands of diamonds. Pockets or cups can be up to six feet in diameter and usually no less than one foot. The dome-like tops of the pockets are often lined with small, white cubic - shaped dolomite crystal. Occasionally, the top will be beautiful black drusy quartz. Pockets containing diamond crystals are never the same either in size or in quality. Most pockets, as a rule, will contain diamond crystals of various sizes. Some pockets may contain large crystals ranging in size from four to eight inches long and three to four inches wide. Other pockets with medium sized crystals range in size from an inch and a half to three to four inches long and a half inch to two inches wide. Micro crystals are always found. As the crystals move up in size they tend to become less clear or more translucent than transparent.

Are there special crystals?

Some crystals contain anthraxolite or decayed plant life. The anthraxolite resembles bits of black coal within the crystals. A special discovery would be an enhydro crystal. These special specimen are crystals that contain a water bubble within it. An extremely lucky find is an enhydro which contains species of anthraxolite floating in the water bubble. Twins, doubles, clusters, tabulars, smokies, skeletals, and phantom crystals are all valuable specimen found in pockets and are further described in the Lapidary Section.

What constitutes a perfect crystal?

The most perfect crystals are usually those less that 1/2" long, but occasionally much larger crystals are found. Crystals commonly occur intertwined or clustered and often tiny, perfect crystals are attached to the backs of larger ones. An avid business of trading has developed among the multitudes of collectors, many of whom possess literally thousands of specimens. The most perfect crystals are often used as display pieces in unusually attractive necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.

Can you be of any age to prospect?

We welcome miners of all ages, but we request that children be accompanied by an adult in order to keep your experience enjoyable and safe.

What are the Metaphysical, Healing & Dreaming - Qualities of Herkimer "Diamonds"

The quartz crystals nicknamed Herkimer Diamonds are from Herkimer County, New York in the United States of America. They range in size from microscopic to over six inches long, and are characterized by very shiny surfaces, frequent high clarity, short, stubby bodies and double-terminations. A large percentage of them are under an inch in length with excellent clarity, which is the reason they are nicknamed "diamonds".

Metaphysically, these crystals are associated with activation of the third eye and an increase in one's visionary capacity. Sleeping with Herkimer's is believed to enhance the dream state and to increase the frequency of lucid dreams. Wearing Herkimer "Diamonds" may bring about greater access to inner guidance and psychic abilities. Those whose work involves visual creativity or use of the imagination may find that wearing these crystals facilitates greater fertility of the inner wellspring of ideas. It is also said that these crystals can help alleviate tension and align the energy structures of wearer, creating an overall state of well being. Through meditation, they can be programmed to enhance whatever mental and emotional states one wishes. Herkimer's combine especially well with Moldavite, and will harmonize with almost any other gemstone.