Lowe’s worker makes once-in-a-lifetime find

By By David Moore, Special to the Enquirer
Mike Burns’vacation got off to a disappointing start, but it took a bright turn Tuesday morning when he spotted a stone with a little shine to it on the edge of a creek in Arkansas. It was a 5.75-carat diamond.
Burns named it The Arabian Knight Diamond, after his high school alma mater.
The value of the triangular-shaped white diamond in the rough is unknown until a professional can appraise it.
Also unknown for now is if the discovery changes the life of the Arab man, but it didn’t right away. An hour later he was back out in Crater of Diamonds State Park looking for a second big diamond, this one for either him or wife, Linda - a matter yet to be resolved.
Burns, a retired truck driver who now works for Lowe’s in Hartselle, left to meet up with a buddy, Craig “Arkan-sas” Wilds, to pan for gold on a third man’s property near Salida, Colo.
He already had changed vacation days to accommodate the property owner, and, to his great disappointment he and Wilds learned the man would be unavailable until Wednesday. The two friends panned a few rivers Saturday and found no gold nuggets.
Burns called Linda with the bad news, and she suggested he and Wilds go to the Arkansas park near Murfreesboro that is famous for its diamond finds.
She also reminded him of a conversation they’d had three weeks ago, when she had held up her finger with its gold wedding band and reminded him their 20th anniversary is on May 27.
But Linda’s idea of heading to Crater of Diamonds State Park sounded good, so he and Wilds left Sunday, heading southeast.
About 10:15 a.m. Tuesday they were plodding along a creek at the park. Burns had heard mud doesn’t stick to diamonds, so he was watching the wet banks when he spied something shining
He showed Wilds who agreed, and they headed back the park office for confirmation.
Margi Jenks, a park interpreter, knew what he had. The question was how much it weighed and the quality. It came in at 5.75 carats.
Jenks said that, under a microscope, some inclusions could be seen in the stone.
It’s the 17th largest diamond found at the park since it opened in 1972 and the largest one found since September 2006. That’s when a Texas couple discovered a 6.35-carat diamond, Jenks said.
While there is no telling what Burns’ stone will appraise for, a woman last year found a 2-carat diamond which, cut and set, is valued at $22,000, Jenks said.
She said that Burns seemed pretty laid back about it all.
Burns called his wife a short time later.
The first thing she thought was he’d been in a bad wreck - until he dropped the “D” word.
He mentioned his birthday.
So there will be some negotiating when he returns home.
Which raises the question… does he plan to come home?
Burns, who is the son of Thomas and Barbara Bodine, had planned on heading to Hot Springs and checking creeks there, but he said since his luck had changed - and since he needs a second diamond - that he would stay another day at the park.
Besides, he added, “You would be surprised how many new friends I met - and I don’t even know any of them.”
Linda says hunting for gold and gems has become a fun hobby for them. Last year, in North Carolina, they found enough rubies to make her a necklace and earrings plus save enough stones for future earrings for her daughter, daughter-in-law and seven grandchildren.
On top of that, they still have enough rubies to put in the setting for a wedding ring. All it would lack, she hinted, was a diamond.
More than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds since 1906 when a farmer owned the site. The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed there in 1924 during an early mining operation. The Uncle Sam, a white diamond with a pink cast, weighed 40.23 carats. Other large notable finds from the crater include the Star of Murfreesboro (34.25 carats) and the Star of Arkansas (15.33 carats).