A seven-year-old boy finds a large diamond in an Arkansas state park
- Seven-year-old Aspen Brown was with her family at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.
- The site is one of the few places in the world where the public can hunt for diamonds.
- Brown found it when she sat down to take a break from the heat.
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Hot weather helped a 7-year-old girl find a nearly 3-carat diamond in an Arkansas state park on Labor Day weekend.
Seven-year-old Aspen Brown was walking through the aptly-named Crater of Diamonds State Park with her family on Sept. 1 when she needed a break from the late-summer heat that sent temperatures soaring to 92 degrees that day.
“She got hot and wanted to sit down for a minute, so she walked over to some big rocks by the fence line,” Aspen’s father, Luther Brown, told park officials. Saying ‘Dad! Dad! I found one!’
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The Aspen discovery turned out to be a 2.95-carat golden-brown diamond, according to a press release from the appropriately named Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. It is approximately the size of a pea.
Aspen and her family went to the park to celebrate her birthday. They live in Paragould, Arkansas, about a four-hour drive away.
Seven-year-old Aspen Brown found this diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas on Friday, September 1, 2023.
(Crater of Diamonds State Park)
They were walking through an area of the park where a large trench had recently been dug.
“Several tons of diamond-containing material has been uncovered that had not been searched for, and it is very likely that this diamond and others will be discovered as a result,” park superintendent Caleb Howell said.
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Diamonds formed deep within the Earth between one and three billion years ago, according to the International Gemological Institute. The diamond crater lies on the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic vent. Its explosion about 100 million years ago pushed rocks and other materials, including diamonds, to the surface.
The Crater of Diamonds is one of the only places in the world where the public can hunt for diamonds, and everyone is allowed to keep their treasure. More than 35,000 diamonds have been found since it became an Arkansas State Park in 1972, including the 40-carat Uncle Sam, the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States.
The Aspen Diamond is the second largest diamond captured in the park this year.
Examples of stone types found at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.
(Crater of Diamonds State Park)
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