At 8 a.m. on Friday, September 27, an amateur prospector arrived at Crater of Diamonds State Park eager to find a precious gemstone at the only diamond site in the world that is open to the general public.
For $15, the visitor rented a "Basic Diamond Hunting Kit," which included an army shovel, screen set, and 3.5-gallon bucket. This searching method is called wet sifting, and involves washing dirt from diamond-bearing gravel through two screens.
The screen set features a large, quarter-inch mesh above a fine, 16th-inch mesh. The two screens work together to separate gravel by size, enabling the user to process a lot of dirt at one time.
After a few unsuccessful hours of wet sifting, the visitor decided to take a different, less strenuous tack.
“If I find a diamond today," the visitor told park officials, "it will probably be right here on the surface.”
And the conditions for surface searching happened to be ideal on September 27.
Not only was it a beautiful sunny day, allowing the sunlight to reflect off a diamond just right, but the search area had recently been plowed and had received rainfall just two days before.
“We periodically plow the search area to loosen the diamond-bearing soil and promote natural erosion," Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox said. "As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals and diamonds near the surface.”
While scouring the ground just west of the covered North Wash pavilion, the guest spotted something sparkling on the surface.
“From far away it shined so clearly,” the visitor said. “I thought it might be a piece of trash or a bug. It was so much shinier than anything else out there.”
After a quick inspection, the prospector realized it was not a bug or a piece of trash, but a glimmering stone. The guest had it checked by park staff at the Diamond Discovery Center before leaving for lunch.
Park Interpreter Sarah Reap was stationed at the rock and mineral identification counter when the finder placed it calmly on her desk.
“Even after a few years of working here, I am still surprised when a finder pulls a large diamond out of a pocket so nonchalantly,” Reap said.
Reap confirmed the specimen to be a silvery-white diamond weighing 2.30 carats. The roundish stone has a pitted surface and is the about the size of a pencil eraser.
This is the third diamond over two carats registered this year and the second-largest diamond registered in 2024.
On an average day, one or two diamonds are discovered in the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area, which is actually the eroded surface of an extinct, diamond-bearing volcanic pipe. Since it opened as a state park in 1972, Crater of Diamonds has welcomed more than 4.6 million visitors, who have unearthed more than 35,000 diamonds.
As of this writing, 548 diamonds — weighing more than 82 carats — have been registered by park guests in 2024.
The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed in 1924 during an early mining operation on the land that later became Crater of Diamonds State Park.
Named Uncle Sam, this white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. It was later cut into a 12.42-carat emerald shape. Uncle Sam is now part of the Smithsonian’s mineral and gem collection and can be seen at the National Museum of Natural History.
Nearly 99% of the diamonds discovered at the park fall into one of three color categories: white (clear), brown or yellow. According the Crater of Diamonds’ official stats, exactly 62% of diamonds found to date were white, 20% were brown and about 17% were yellow. Slightly more than 1% were classified as “other.”
Diamonds unearthed at the park average 1/6th of a carat, but about 21 each year will weigh in at 1 carat or more.
Credits: Images courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.