Ron Coleman Crystal Mine

     We had two and half days in the Hot Springs, Arkansas area. For several miles around this area you can find many crystal mines. Last year we visited the Sweet Surrender mine near Mount Ida, AR, which yielded a few nice crystals. This year we decided we would try a few different ones.  Since the Ron Coleman mine also has a very nice RV park we decided to make base camp here. For $12.50 a night you get electric and water hook ups, showers and a laundry room. The facilities are a bit old but they are clean and that's all that matters. The big attraction for us was it was only about 500 yards from the digging area and there are only 26 RV spots. So at night the camp is REALLY quiet.
  Only our first full day of digging we started at Ron Coleman's. Since it was Mother's Day, Sandee slept in while I went to the mine for awhile. After about hour of looking around the site and only finding a few broken crystals I went back to camp. Sandee was up and ready to go so back to the di site we went. To say we were disappointed at this dig site would be a huge understatement. After 4 hours of digging I only found ONE crystal worth bringing home. It was a nice one, but two people digging and only one keeper is not a good investment for the $40.00 we paid.
 We had talked to others at the mine who have been coming to the site for 20 years and they said it was the worst they have ever seen it. The did recommended we visit another site at Miller Mountain about 15 miles away, more on that in my next blog.
  Anyway, here are some pictures of the site and my one and only find at the mine.