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The Associated Press in the Columbus Dispatch
12-17-98
MAUMEE, Ohio (AP) -- The National Park Service has given hope to preservationists trying to save the Fallen Timbers battlefield -- site of a 1794 clash that was key to Ohio statehood.
A park service report released yesterday called the site in this Toledo suburb "nationally significant" and worth preserving but did not guarantee any money for such an effort.
Preservationists said the report gives legitimacy to their quest for the millions of dollars needed to buy the 188-acre battlefield and transform it into a park.
"We are thrilled that it's come to fruition," said Marianne Duvendack, vice president of the Fallen Timbers Battlefield Preservation Commission. "We always knew that it was worthy of inclusion."
In the battle, fought on Aug. 20, 1794, the army of Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne defeated a band of American Indian tribes in a fight that lasted less than two hours.
Wayne's victory broke the spirit of Indian resistance. Within a year, he had negotiated the Treaty of Greenville, which opened about two-thirds of southern Ohio to settlers.
Whether the park service report will help raise the money, though, is uncertain.
Toledo bought the site in 1987, before archaeologists determined the battle was fought on that land, and has set its price at $7.2 million.
So far, the state has contributed $2 million. The city of Maumee has chipped in $500,000.
"People are saying, 'Oh, this thing has life,' " said Maumee Mayor Steve Pauken. "I'm very confident that we'll reach an agreement. Things really have come along nicely."
Pauken said he believes the price tag is negotiable and that a state-mandated survey of the battlefield may produce a different estimate of the land's worth.
The report said that depending on the availability of money, the park service could contribute to those costs and identified $11.4 million that could be used, The Blade of Toledo reported. But it is unclear whether any of that money will be available.
After Congress reconvenes in January, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, and Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, will reintroduce legislation to have Fallen Timbers named a site affiliated with the park service. But it is undecided if that legislation will allocate federal money for the project, said Kaptur's spokesman, Steve Katich.
Pauken said he does not believe it would include any federal money.
The park service study also does not say the area should be turned into a national park. Instead, it said park personnel and resources might be available to assist preservationists, which is a benefit of affiliation.
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