Scene of actual fighting at Blair Mountain, showing armed Logan County deputies repulsing the attack of miners in the dense thickets hundreds of feet to their front. (Courtesy: Charleston Gazette, September 10, 1921)

The battle over whether Blair Mountain should be on the National Register of Historic Places is heading to federal court.

The Sierra Club and others pushing to protect the southern West Virginia landmark said Thursday they're suing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and officials with the National Park Service and National Register to force Blair Mountain onto the register.

Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff declined to comment for the agencies.

Preservationists want the site of the bloody 1921 battle over union organizing protected from surface mining. It was briefly added to the register last year, then removed after the number of objecting property owners was raised.

West Virginia's Division of Culture and History says it's planning to renominate the mountain.

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