Thanks for everyone's input.

Based on pictures I've examined and the timelines involved, it was my opinion that Otto's boys didn't "grade" the ROW as much as "clear the ground"; what wasn't cleared by the toll road when followed. Then they just threw down "logs" (ties) and hammered the rails in similar to what lumber companies were doing with their shortlines. Money was short and so was time - first ties going down in 6-1890 and the silver spike in 12-1891. I believe the only time they considered "ballasting" is when the saw the track "walking" off-line and wanted to pin it down after fixing.