Family uncovers 2.79-carat brown diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

A family visiting Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas on September 13 found a brown diamond weighing 2.79 carats after using inexpensive tools bought at a dollar store. Raynae Madison and her nephew William were in Oklahoma for his birthday and stopped at the park to try their luck at gemstone digging. They purchased a beach digging kit and sand-sifting tools before heading to the park, and chose a spot on the north side of the park's 37.5-acre diamond search area. They began digging through buckets of dirt, sifting as they went. After processing several buckets, Madison spotted an unusual oblong, shiny stone. She showed it to family members, and the group then brought it to the Diamond Discovery Center, where staff identified it as a brown diamond weighing 2.79 carats.

The find is the third-largest diamond unearthed at Crater of Diamonds State Park this year. The diamond is described as chocolate brown, with unique inclusions. Emma O'Neal, the park's interpreter, explained that brown diamonds form through plastic deformation, which creates structural defects during a diamond's formation or movement in magma. These defects reflect red and green light, giving the stone its brown hue. Madison named the stone the William Diamond in honor of her nephew.

The find comes as Crater of Diamonds officials tally a strong year for large finds. Visitors have unearthed more than 400 diamonds at the park so far in 2025, totaling 7,267 carats. The vast majority of stones weigh less than one carat, and only a handful this year weighed more than two carats; Madison's stone was the only one heavier than two carats in the period cited by officials. Arkansas State Parks does not appraise diamonds found at the park; their value cannot be determined until they are cut and polished.

The largest diamond found at the park this year weighed 3.81 carats and was also brown; it was discovered in April by David DeCook, a regular visitor from Minnesota. The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was the 40.23-carats Uncle Sam, unearthed at Crater of Diamonds in 1924 and later placed in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Since the park opened in 1972, visitors have discovered 36,824 diamonds totaling 7,267 carats. Officials note that the first diamonds in the area were found in 1906 by John Huddleston, a farmer who owned the land before it became a state park, and that more than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed in the years since.