BLACKTAIL CREEK RANCH - A four-mile stretch of rocky, rolling road that runs through this spread is used mainly as a cow trail, or as a spot for sunning rattlesnakes. Yet it's been fussed over by folks for years.

Soon, this road in North Dakota's western Badlands may be smoothed into a thoroughfare, linking two state highways, cutting commute times for locals and allowing better access to the region's oil fields.

"Theodore Roosevelt used to run his cows through this land," said Norma Eberts, one of the owners of a 5,298-acre ranch. "He gained his conservation principles and ethics from the time he spent out here. I think he'd be really disturbed about what's happening now."

The ranch, shrouded by towering buttes next to Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch site, is owned by brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families. They have been trying unsuccessfully to sell the picturesque property to the state or the National Park Service for public use and preservation.

Billings County wants to use the road north of Medora to connect state Highways 16 and 85. It would cut as much as 100 miles off the commutes of many who live in the area and encourage economic development in the region, county officials say.

The state Supreme Court in May ruled in the county's favor, reversing a temporary injunction granted by a judge and ordering the dismissal of the Ebertses' lawsuit seeking to permanently halt the road.

Kenneth and Norma Eberts, who live at the ranch, said the high court's ruling will lessen the land's value and make it nearly impossible to sell. They also said it will kill their guided hunting business and bring "boiling dust" from traffic, including heavy equipment used by oil workers.

More than anything, Kenneth Eberts said, "This is about private property rights."

Their home is about the length of a football field away from the road.

County Commissioner Jim Arthaud said the county is acquiring the private road through eminent domain by a quick-take deed. He said the Ebertses will be paid a fair price for the roadway, although a dollar amount has not been set.

"We're not trying to just ramrod a road through," Arthaud said. "We're just trying to do what's right - not only for the people of Billings County - but the state of North Dakota."

Arthaud said the east-west road running through the ranch is the best location to link the two state highways. Resurfacing the road, along with building a low-water crossing at the Little Missouri River, should be completed sometime next year, he said.

Arthaud said the county has worked for years and has spent a big part of its budget on getting the road through. County officials, he said, worried that federal or state ownership would require onerous permitting and restrict public access and moved as quickly as they could to get rights to the road.

The Ebertses first offered their ranch to the National Park Service five years ago, to be owned in conjunction with Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Billings County and others protested, so the Park Service offered to buy the land as a preserve while allowing oil and gas development and other uses to continue.

The deal languished; federal legislation to allow the purchase was never introduced.

"We're still interested in seeing the ranch preserved," Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor said. "We don't have any current plan to purchase it in the works. But it is an important piece of property that needs to be preserved."

The state of North Dakota also offered to buy the land through the State Park Department. Gov. John Hoeven advocated the purchase for more than two years, but the state House voted down a $3.52 million deal in April. Some legislators called it a "rip-off" and a "shakedown of the taxpayers."

The Ebertses say their ranch is worth more than that. They bought it in 1993, after its former owner died, paying $800,000 after it had been on the market for more than a year.

Today, the ranch's value is at least four times the original purchase price, Kenneth Eberts said.

Billings County Auditor Sydney Hegge said the Ebertses are considered "outsiders" in the county, which has fewer than 700 registered voters.

The Ebertses said other roads could be used for a crossing. They said the issue centers on jealousy with the locals.

Rancher Randy Mosser said the former owner of what is now known as the Blacktail Creek Ranch used to allow unlimited access to the road and the Little Missouri River crossing.

"My grandfather remembers being able to use the road to get mail, and that was … near 80 years ago," Mosser said. "We all used the crossing because it was better."

Kenneth Eberts said he allowed access to the road for a few years. He said he stopped the traffic after a car hit a deer that a paying hunting guest had sighted and was ready to shoot.

The Ebertses said they always have allowed emergency vehicles to use the road, and that's happened a few times over the years.

Kenneth Eberts said the family is committed to preserving the land, despite the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the county to use the road.

The Ebertses had hoped that a proposed North Dakota constitutional amendment on private property rights would apply to their case, but they recently learned otherwise. The constitutional initiative seeks to bar North Dakota's state and local governments from seizing private property for economic development projects.

Litchville farmer Don Berge, who is chairman of the initiative campaign and president of the Landowners Association of North Dakota, said the measure does not apply to roads or utility access.

Kenneth Eberts, a wiry man who does not waste words, said his family cannot afford another lengthy legal battle.

"What will happen will happen," he said. "We've tried to preserve this land for future generations, but that's not going to happen now."