Yuma residents discover 7 hidden 'diamonds'

YUMA, Ariz. — All seven glass diamonds hidden around the Yuma area for the Great Yuma County Diamond Hunt have been claimed by intrepid hunters.

The baseball-size glass diamonds, inscribed with the Yuma County-Arizona Centennial logo, were hidden at seven historically significant locations that each played an important role in the development of Yuma's history.

"We wanted to have people go out and experience those areas so that maybe they will better appreciate them," said Kevin Tunell, Yuma County public relations director.

The hunt was coordinated through a partnership between Yuma County and the Yuma Sun as part of the festivities leading up to the Yuma County Centennial Celebration this weekend.

To find the exact location of a hidden diamond, hunters had to match up the latitude released on Twitter by the Yuma Sun and the longitude released on the county's Twitter account. One location was released per day over the course of one week, and the first hunter to find each diamond got to keep it.

The diamonds were found by Chris and Kym Miller, Isaac Russell, Ron Spicer, Ben Russell, "Cowboy Mike" Kinsman, Craig Colvin and Cody Beeson.

The Millers found the first diamond during the kickoff day at the Yuma Territorial Prison. It took only a few minutes to find the diamond, which was buried in an ammunition box.

"We were all looking for something, but we didn't know exactly what to look for," Kym Miller said. "A couple of people had walked by it and I actually spotted it out of the corner of my eye."

The next day, a diamond hidden at the Plank Road in the Imperial Sand Dunes was found by Isaac Russell and Beeson, who had teamed up together. They began their search at 3:30 a.m. and were "on the road before the coordinates even came out," Russell said.

"We got the coordinates as we pulled off at Gray's Well and drove right to them — literally. We got out and looked all over the place for about 15 minutes and then came back and it was right next to the truck."

The next diamond, hidden at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers, was discovered by Spicer, who had arrived there before dawn.

"Finally the coordinates came in and I saw it on my screen. So I started walking, and there it was laying right there. This is really the neatest thing I have ever done."