Arkansas state park visitor goes home with 3.69-carat diamond

MURFREESBORO, Ark., April 28 (UPI) -- The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas announced a visitor discovered a 3.69-carat diamond, the largest found at the park this year.

The park said Susie Clark of Evening Shade, Ark., found the 3.69-carat white, teardrop-shaped diamond Thursday in the park's 37.5-acre search field, where visitors are invited to seek out gems they can take home for an entrance fee of $8.

Clark, who dubbed her discovery the "Hallelujah Diamond," said she prayed before the discovery.

"Are you going to bless me and let me find a diamond today?" she recalled praying before searching the field with her husband.

Park interpreter Waymon Cox said Clark's diamond is about the size of a pinto bean and is the largest of the 122 diamonds found at the park 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.

Clark's discovery falls short of the largest ever found at the park -- the 40.23-carat "Uncle Sam" diamond was found at the park in 1924.

The park said more than 75,000 diamonds have been found in the area since John Huddleston, the former owner of the land, discovered the first gems in 1906. The area became a state park in 1972.

More than 75,000 diamonds have been discovered there since farmer discovered gems on what was then his property in 1906.