Start with the road crew’s stonefall notices and the mule train delay book. It is the source used to make a decision about whether to reopen the route between inspections or hold all freight until the retaining wall is rebuilt; it is not the decision itself. The rule only works if the source describes the conditions at the west switchback above the mule rest.
The latest count is 48 switchback closures lasting longer than one bell; the prior file listed 45. The clerk has matched the claim to its source register and named the missing record. The difference is a signal to check, not a verdict about who is right.
The disputed point is practical: Carriers call short closures manageable; masons say repeated traffic shakes loose stone from the same seam. One side relies on the posted total, while the other points to a fresh fan of chips below the retaining wall’s third drain.
The risk of reading the file too broadly is that an entry becomes a conclusion. Varda Kin checked the road crew’s stonefall notices and the mule train delay book against the field notes. The method is to trace the route from the first signal to the final gate receipt; it confirms the entries, but not every interpretation attached to them.
Next: The route marshal will time a loaded test after the drain has been cleared. A useful update will publish the method, exceptions and review date with the number.
