Ever since the Beverly Hillbillies struck it rich when they found a fountain of “black gold” in their backyard, every man, woman and child has secretly hoped to stumble upon natural buried treasure while digging around their lawns. Most of us find rocks and shoe boxes of cat bones but in the case of an Arkansas farmer named John Wesley Huddleston, who found two large diamonds on his property back in 1906, sometimes you can strike it rich!
Several other diamonds have been discovered over the years in the land on Huddleston’s old farm. Arguably the largest diamond ever to be found in the United States, called the “Uncle Sam” after the nickname of its finder Wesley Oley Basham, was discovered in 1924 on what was then called the Prairie Creek Pipe Mine. The rough diamond originally weighed 40.23 carats. Imagine carrying that rock around on your finger every day! Is it possible to get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from jewelry?
Huddleston’s farm yielded a few more monster rocks over the years including the “Amarillo Starlight” weighing 16.37 carats discovered in 1972, the “Strawn-Wagner” weighing 3.03 carats discovered in 1990 and finally the very famous “Kahn Canary” diamond weighing in at 4.25 carats discovered in 1977.
The original farm founded by Huddleston in 1906 was eventually bought by the state of Arkansas in 1972 and renamed the Crater of Diamonds State Park. It is the only publicly owned diamond site in the world where visitors can search for diamonds and keep what they find. So imagine George Stepp’s surprise when he found the Kahn Canary diamond back in 1977. He later sold the perfect rock to Stanley Kahn of Kahn’s Jewelers who made the final decision not to cut the diamond to preserve its flawless beauty.
The Kahn Canary was made most famous by Hillary Rodham Clinton who wore the brightly colored diamond to both of her husband’s inaugurals, first as the Governor of Arkansas and second at the President of the United States. The diamond is considered particularly rare because of its flawless uncut condition, natural triangular shape and brilliant yellow coloring. Arkansas has adopted the diamond as the perfect symbol to represent its reputation as “The Natural State” thus making Mrs. Clinton’s wearing of the ring a more special tribute to her and her husband’s humble beginnings.
The Crater of Diamonds State Park is still open to tourists today. The land itself is situated on the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic pipe where diamonds are formed by combining extreme heat and extreme pressure which cause the carbon atoms to crystallize. Diamonds then reach the surface through the volcanic pipes and channels or when a volcano erupts as one did many years ago on the ancient Arkansas land.
It’s unlikely that a bride-to-be will find her own diamonds for her engagement ring, but George Stepp probably never thought he’d find anything either back in 1977! So, have fun hunting, good luck and remember not to dig too many holes in the back yard. If it turns out you don’t strike it rich however, don’t worry, there are plenty of already discovered diamonds right here for you to wear.
Though certainly not the choice made by the majority of diamond engagement ring buyers, rings containing rough-cut stones are growing in their popularity. There are several existent conditions contributing to the rise of such rings, many of which center around environmentally conscientious consumers, those buyers looking to make a unique statement with their piece and cost comparisons with the more traditional, finely cut and polished stones.
