Return Trip Brings Sparkling Success for Couple at Crater of Diamonds Park

After two fruitless days of digging, most visitors might have given up. But Dewy White and his wife, travelers from Paoli, IN, weren’t most visitors. Their determination — and a little divine inspiration — led to one of the year’s largest discoveries at Crater of Diamonds State Park: a 2.71-carat golden-brown diamond they fittingly named the “Hope Diamond.”

The couple first visited the Murfreesboro, AR, park in late September as part of what they called the “road trip of a lifetime.” They spent two long, dusty days sifting through the park’s 37.5-acre search field with no luck. Undeterred, they continued their journey but decided to stop back on their way home for another try.

That decision made all the difference. On October 2, in a shaded section of the park known as Canary Hill, White began dry sifting dirt through mesh screens he’d bought in town. The area had been recommended by another visitor — “a very nice gentleman,” he said — who seemed to know his way around the diamond field.

Late in the day, White spotted something glinting in his shovel before it even hit the screen.

“It looked like a metal piece of glass,” he said. “The minute I saw it, I knew.”

Shouting “Thank you, Jesus!” he rushed to the park’s identification table, where staff confirmed he’d found a genuine diamond — round, about the size of a pea, and weighing 2.71 carats.

Although the official report described the gem as white, photos show a beautiful golden-brown hue — a warm color that catches the light with a subtle sparkle.

White named it the “Hope Diamond,” not to be confused with the world-famous 45.52-carat deep-blue Hope Diamond housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The Arkansas gem may be smaller and earthier, but for the Whites, it represents something far more personal: the reward of patience and faith. According to park officials, White chose the name "Hope Diamond," simply because he had hoped they would find one.

White’s “Hope Diamond” is the fourth-largest diamond registered at Crater of Diamonds this year. According to park staff, 414 diamonds have been logged in 2025 alone — an average of about 1.5 per day. Since diamonds were first discovered here by farmer John Huddleston in 1906, more than 75,000 have been unearthed.

Crater of Diamonds remains the only public diamond-bearing site in the world where visitors can keep what they find, a fact that draws thousands of hopeful treasure hunters each year. For White and his wife, their find was more than a gem — it was a sparkling symbol of persistence rewarded.

Credits: Images courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.