Dewy White and his wife set out from Paoli, Indiana, on a road trip to remember. Their first big stop: Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas—a place where everyday visitors can search for real diamonds in their original volcanic source. Over several days in early October, they dug, sifted, learned, and—most of all—hoped.
Armed with mesh screens he’d picked up on the way into town, White headed for the Canary Hill area near the south wash pavilion, following a tip from a stranger. “A very nice gentleman I met on my first day out here suggested that area,” he said. “He seemed like he knew what he was doing, and it looked like a nice, shaded spot.” He spent hour after hour dry sifting—breaking up earth by hand and sifting it through screens—letting curiosity do the patient work that luck eventually rewards.
Then came the shimmer that changed everything. Before the rock even touched the screen, White saw it sparkle in his shovel. Saying “thank you, Jesus!” he hurried the find to the park’s identification table. “It looked like a metal piece of glass,” he said. “The minute I saw it in my shovel, I knew.” Staff confirmed it: a beautiful, round, white diamond weighing 2.71 carats—“about the size of a pea.”
Like many finders here, White gave his gem a name. He chose “Hope Diamond,” not as a nod to the famous stone, but because he and his wife had hoped to find one. That spirit—equal parts adventure and faith—feels right at home at a park where the improbable is part of the invitation.
The numbers tell a story of possibility. White’s “Hope Diamond” is the fourth-largest registered at the park this year; as of the news release, 414 diamonds had been logged in 2025. Across more than a century on this land, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed since the first discoveries in 1906. Among the most storied finds: the 40.23-carat “Uncle Sam,” the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States (now in the Smithsonian), and the 3.03-carat Strawn-Wagner, later cut to a flawless 1.09-carat round brilliant. Most stones here are found in white, brown, and yellow—the park’s three most common colors.
What lingers, though, is less the carat count than the kindness threaded through White’s story—the fellow visitor who pointed him toward shade; the shared tips and well-wishes in the search area; the call to his wife the moment hope turned into a diamond in hand. Before leaving, White “expressed his gratitude to the kind people he had met,” wanting especially to thank the person who steered him to the right spot. Discovery, it seems, is a team sport.
Experts estimate that, depending on color and clarity, a 2.71-carat diamond like White’s could be worth around $5,000 to $7,000 once professionally cut and polished—a sparkling reminder that persistence can pay off in more ways than one.
For anyone tempted to try their luck, the park sits along Arkansas Highway 301 and welcomes visitors daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve afternoon, and Christmas Day). Bring patience. Bring curiosity. And bring the quiet belief that today could be the day a glint in your shovel becomes a story you’ll tell for the rest of your life.
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