Most people shop for an engagement ring at a jewelry store. Micherre Fox went digging for hers in the dirt.The 31-year-old spent three weeks at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Pike County, Arkansas, determined to unearth a stone for her own future engagement ring, and, on the very last day of her trip, she did. As reported in a release from Arkansas State Parks (ASP), Fox stumbled upon a 2.3-carat white diamond, one of the largest found at the park this year.“I was willing to go anywhere in the world to make that happen,” Fox said. “I researched, and it turned out that the only place in the world to do it was right in our backyard, in Arkansas!”
Source: Good Morning America
Her partner had agreed to wait to propose until she found her own diamond, a quest she’d started planning two years ago. After finishing graduate school, Fox prepared for two weeks, then set off on July 8 for the park, which ASP describes as “one of the only diamond-producing sites in the world where the public can search for diamonds in their original volcanic source.” The policy is simple: “finders, keepers.”For three weeks, Fox scoured the 37.5-acre search area for “shiners.” Then, on July 29, while walking through the West Drain, she noticed something glinting at her feet. Nudging it with her boot, she initially thought it was a spiderweb, but the shine didn’t fade. She picked it up and brought it to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where staff confirmed it was a white diamond, roughly the size of a human canine tooth.
“I got on my knees and cried, then started laughing,” Fox said, adding that she named it the Fox-Ballou Diamond after her and her partner’s last names. The 2.3-carat gem is the third-largest found at the park this year, ASP noted.“There’s something symbolic about being able to solve problems with money, but sometimes money runs out in a marriage,” she told ASP. “You need to be willing and able to solve those problems with hard work.”Reflecting on her find, Fox said, “After all the research, there’s luck and there’s hard work. When you are literally picking up the dirt in your hands, no amount of research can do that for you; no amount of education can take you all the way. It was daunting.” So far in 2025, ASP reports that more than 366 diamonds have been registered at the park, including 11 weighing over 1 carat.