[myself6]

It seems you have either missed my point or have chose to ignore it.

I could care less what the OWNERS of the property are doing with their property. It matters very little if they are growing potatoes, tomatoes or wheat or they are building a house, a barn or an adult bookstore. What matters is that it is THIER property and it should NOT be taken or used AGAINST the owners will by anyone.

Value can only be determined by someone who owns a "thing" or wishes to own a "thing". You can try and place a value on something you do NOT own but it will not get you very far, nor should it. Believe it or not, there are people who really put no value on the battlefield you mentioned. To them it is nothing more than good farmland or a nice place to put a home and raise a family. Both you and that person has placed a value on that land according to your desires and whomever values that land more can own it. How would you like it if you owned this battlefield and wished to keep it a museum of the civil war but someone or a group of people or a government came along and forcefully took it from you because they desired to do something else with it?

[blam]

A private land seizure that went bad. Click here

The tree was recently dated by dendrochronologists (tree ring experts) to a little over 100 years old.

[Mackey]

Oh, I see your point...I just indulged myself in a minor rant. Archaeological finds such as this one are rare, and there are so many missing pieces of history to fill in. The thought that a significant portion of this site could be destroyed forever, simply for something so ordinary as a crop of potatoes, set my teeth on edge.