PRESCOTT -- About 65 people gathered Friday to celebrate the sale of 448 acres in Nevada County by a timber company to a nonprofit that plans to preserve the Elkins' Ferry Battlefield.
Next up -- nearby Prairie D'Ane, site of a subsequent Civil War skirmish.
The 448 acres at Elkins' Ferry sold for $976,000 to the Nevada County Depot and Museum.
Of that total, $593,000 came from the National Park Service, $289,000 came from state government agencies, and the rest was raised locally, said Jeremy Dickinson, president of the nonprofit's board.
The land is located at the end of County Road 37, Dickinson said, 8 miles northwest of Prescott on the Little Missouri River. Ninety percent of the property is in timber and prone to flood, he said.
Eventually, Dickinson said, the land will have interpretive trails and historical signage.
The project was 22 years in the making and was supported by about 80 donors, he said. The land was sold to the nonprofit by Hancock Timber Management of Hope.
Mark Christ of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program said the land remains much the way it was in April 1864 when Union and Confederate forces fought there.
"The end of the world -- that's what it looked like to the men in blue and gray," Christ said.
Elkins' Ferry, Christ said, "was the first serious opposition to the Union Army drive to Shreveport from Little Rock."
Gen. Frederick Steele's Union forces met heavy resistance from the Confederates under Gen. John S. Marmaduke, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.
The fighting resumed a few days later at Prairie D'Ane.
"The Union Army failed in its attempt to reach Shreveport," Christ said, "and barely made it back to Little Rock intact."
Christ expressed hope that modern travelers would fare better than Steele and his Federals.
About 21,000 vehicles pass by Prescott each day on Interstate 30. If 1 percent of those vehicles pulled off to visit Elkins' Ferry and Prescott, "it would be like having a new factory in town," he said.
Mike Kish of Jacksonville was on hand Friday and expressed his admiration for the preservation work in Nevada County. He's president of the Reed's Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society. Reed's Bridge was a conflict in 1863 at Bayou Meto in north Pulaski County.
Preservation and development of historic sites such as Elkins' Ferry creates "something tangible that connects you to a piece of history," Kish said.
Dickinson said a committee of the nonprofit, Friends of Elkins' Ferry, may change its name to Friends of Prairie D'Ane, because acquisition of another 800 acres is the next goal.
That property is at Interstate 30 and Arkansas 19, a couple of miles from downtown Prescott. The land has been appraised for $1.4 million, Christ said. As with Elkins' Ferry, about half of the funds will come from the National Park Service, he said.
Another $500,000 will come from Dr. Nathan Patrick Hale and his wife, Sue, of St. Augustine, Fla. Hale, a retired physician, grew up in Prescott.
"He has always loved growing up here," said Sue Hale, who grew up in Warren. "It's one of the finest small towns in America."
About $200,000 more must be raised "to seal the deal," Christ said.
Nathan Hale said his parents, Eugene B. and Katherine Hale, bought the land in the 1930s and 1940s. About half the acreage is in timber and half is cleared.
The Hale family has deep roots in Nevada County. Dr. Hale said his great-grandfather, George Albert Hale, fought "on the good side" at Prairie D'Ane -- "he was a Confederate."
Metro on 08/06/2016