Montana man finds 2.78-carat diamond at state park
MURFREESBORO — Ever since he was a child growing up in Arkansas, Wendell Fox has wanted to search for diamonds in the Natural State. Now retired and living in Joliet, Mont., the 70-year-old got his chance when he and his wife, Jennifer, visited Crater of Diamonds State Park for the first time.
On their second day at the park, the couple were surface searching in the East Drain of the diamond search area when Wendell spotted a large brown gem near where one of the park’s well-known diamonds, the Strawn-Wagner, was found in 1990.
“I was 80 to 90 percent sure that it was a diamond when I saw it,” Fox said in a news release. Park staff confirmed he found a 2.78-carat diamond. As a memento of this one-of-a-kind experience with his wife, Wendell registered the diamond in both of their names.
Park retail specialist Amanda Johnson said, “Mr. and Mrs. Fox’s diamond is about the size of an English pea, with an oval shape and a Champagne brown color. It contains a few inclusions, like most diamonds from the park, but it also has an unmistakable sparkling, metallic shine.”
“It’s no surprise that Mr. Fox found his diamond by surface searching. It has rained a lot at the park this spring, and so far we have registered 11 diamonds that were found on top of the ground in May,” park interpreter Waymon Cox said.
It is a tradition for visitors to Crater of Diamonds State Park to name their diamonds. Wendell and Jennifer Fox chose to name their gem the Way Out Yonder, as a tribute to their home in Montana.
The Way Out Yonder is the second-largest gem registered at the park so far this year.
The couple said that they plan to keep their diamond as a souvenir and may have it mounted in jewelry. “All in all it was a great experience,” Wendell said. “Finding a diamond was just icing on the cake.”
A total of 209 diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park so far in 2017, weighing a total of 52.08 carats. Seven diamonds registered this year have weighed at least one carat each.
Call Crater of Diamonds State Park at 870-285-3113, email craterofdiamonds@arkansas.com, or visit http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com for more information.