Dad and son dig up big diamond at Arkansas State Park

When Will and Marshall Barnett from Buckeye, Arizona, left for a “boys’ week” road trip, little did they know they’d come home with treasure. The pair found a two-carat diamond at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park. It’s the second-largest diamond discovery there this year.

“Fun” trip gets really exciting

The Barnetts set out on a “boys’ week” road trip from their home in late July. Their main goal was to visit family and have fun along the way. After learning about the Crater of Diamonds State Park from his uncle, who worked as a park interpreter at another Arkansas State Park, Will decided to stop by Arkansas’ diamond site to try their luck at finding a genuine diamond.

Will and Marshall turned up at the park July 27, buckets and shovels in hand. After renting screens at the park, the two went into the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area. It’s a plowed field atop the eroded surface of an ancient, diamond-bearing volcano. After filling a few buckets with “diamond-bearing” soil, they headed to the park’s south wash pavilion to wet sift their dirt.

“Wet sifting is one of the most effective methods to search for diamonds,” said Park Interpreter Ashlyn Keys. “The search area has two wash pavilions, with water troughs and tables, for visitors to wet sift. Using screens to separate dirt from the gravel allows you to go through more material in less time, giving a better chance of finding a diamond.”

Crater of Diamonds yields second largest find of the year

While sifting, Will spotted a promising, glimmering gem at the bottom of his screen. He quickly called over his son, saying, “Hey, Marshall, you should take a look at this!” Marshall excitedly picked out the large stone before asking an experienced miner nearby if they had just found a diamond.

The Barnetts brought their find to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where staff confirmed it was a large diamond. Park Superintendent Caleb Howell said, “While examining the diamond, I looked out the office window and asked Mrs. Keys who the finders were, then said, ‘Wait, let me guess: they’re the ones shaking with excitement!’”

“You could tell they knew they had found something special from the smiles on their faces,” said Keys.

The beautiful two-carat diamond is rectangular, about the size of a pencil eraser, with a light brown color resembling iced tea. “The first thing I noticed was two large facets that really shined when the light hit them just right,” Howell said.

“Minor Find”

Many visitors choose to name the diamonds they find. As frequent gold panners, Will and Marshall came up with the name “Minor Find,” as Will often calls his son a “minor-miner.” Will says of their visit, “It’s worth looking, even if you don’t find a diamond!”

The “Minor Find” is the 412th diamond registered at the park this year and the 36,500th diamond registered since Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas State Park in 1972. On average, park visitors find one or two diamonds each day.

In total, more than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at the Crater of Diamonds since the first diamonds were discovered in 1906 by John Huddleston, a farmer who owned the land long before it became an Arkansas State Park in 1972.

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. The Uncle Sam is now part of the Smithsonian’s mineral and gem collection and can be seen at the National Museum of Natural History.

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