MURFREESBORO, AR – A Sharp County woman is the latest to make a big diamond find at the Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Susie Clark, of Evening Shade, was digging near the South Washing Pavilion of the park’s 37 ½-acre search field on Thursday when she came across a 3.69-carat white diamond.

Park officials said in a news release that Clark found the gem on the surface of the field after she asked God, “Are you going to bless me and let me find a diamond today?” Shortly after her prayer, Clark saw the diamond sticking out of a furrow ridge in the plowed dirt. She knew it was a diamond, and said to herself, “This is a diamond. And it’s a big one!” 

Because Clark found the diamond after saying that prayer on her last day of searching at the park, she named her teardrop-shaped gem the Hallelujah Diamond. At this time, she plans to keep her gem.

The large diamond is about the size of pinto bean, according to Park Interpreter Waymon Cox. “The gem is frosted white with a pearlescent, metallic shine. This is the largest diamond found so far this year. And it’s the largest one found since April 16, 2014, when a 6.19-carat white diamond, named the Limitless Diamond, was found at the park,” he said. “Mrs. Clark’s diamond is the 122nd diamond found at the park this year.”

Cox noted that the park has experienced a lot of rain over the past couple of weeks, plus the park maintenance staff plowed the search field—the eroded surface of an ancient, diamond-bearing deposit—earlier this week. 

“This regular endeavor loosens the diamond-bearing soil which, along with rain erosion, brings more diamonds to the surface and helps park visitors’ chances of finding them. With all the rain we’ve been seeing, along with this week’s plowing, there’s a good chance more diamonds will be found on the surface in the days to come.” 

He stressed that conditions on the search field are perfect right now for finding diamonds on the surface of the field. “Diamonds are a bit heavy for their size, and they lack static electricity, so rainfall slides the dirt off diamonds that are on the surface of the search area leaving them exposed. And when the sun comes out, they’ll sparkle and be noticed.”      

In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at Arkansas’s diamond site since the first diamonds were found there in 1906. It became a state park in 1972.