"Stripped of vegetation" he meant to say, and maybe add another comma, too.
Frederick Hihn undermined the tracks and ruined the area for years. The people were different then, living under stressful circumstances, and limited in their knowledge when safety and the environment were being shorted. I'm almost too stunned to notice any progress or good happening. The lack of concern by the railroad - bad drainage from the roadbed, no rerouting, and no demands that this trench be filled (I'm guessing) - indicates that this line was of little use to them: one must look for quality in the earlier narrow-gauge era.
Frederick Hihn undermined the tracks and ruined the area for years. The people were different then, living under stressful circumstances, and limited in their knowledge when safety and the environment were being shorted. I'm almost too stunned to notice any progress or good happening. The lack of concern by the railroad - bad drainage from the roadbed, no rerouting, and no demands that this trench be filled (I'm guessing) - indicates that this line was of little use to them: one must look for quality in the earlier narrow-gauge era.