Patrick,
Sometimes, one needs to use good judgement when ascertaining the validity of any particular article. Joe and I have an article that states William Flynn designed Cobbs Creek, but that doesn't make it so, and none of the other contemporaneous evidence supports that contention.
For me, I'll take the word of the men and written accounts of the men who were there; Tillinghast, Perrin, Carr...than Jack Nuneville nearly 20 years later.
Bryan,
There is not a thing wrong with your photo interpretation. It makes the evidence very clear and as usual when pointed out in the wrong, Patrick is protesting too much with no evidence to counter you.
That little sandy road was almost certainly created to move fallen timber, or perhaps a remnant of former operations on the property (sand mining?), and if I'm not mistaken, can be seen on the left of this photo looking back up the hill as well.