Almost 100 million years ago, in what is now Pike County, nature created one of the world s most unusual diamond-bearing formations, the big volcanic "pipe" that now serves as the centerpiece of Crater of Diamonds State Park.
As Crater of Diamonds prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary as a state park later this month, my thoughts turn to John Wesley Huddleston. He was the struggling farmer who found two diamonds in a field near Murfreesboro in August 1906, a find that received national media attention and set off a diamond rush as fortune seekers headed to Pike County.
Murfreesboro Mayor Rodney Fagan and I pull into the parking lot of Crater of Diamonds State Park and begin looking at the license plates. In addition to the expected Texas and Louisiana plates, there are vehicles from Illinois and California. And it's not even spring break season yet.