the flood of the Blacksmith Fork and Logan rivers in 2011, resulted in 1 federal fund to fix the river bank, and they dug out 100 years of junk, and 50 cars

In early 2012 — after the damage was done — the federal government approved $7 million in grant money to complete a major restoration project along the river banks

 After a months-long permitting process, truckloads of tree stumps and large branches, sediment, rocks, gravel and boulders were scooped out of the river and hauled away.

 And then, there were the rusty, vintage car bodies, City Public Works Manager Bill Saunders estimates as many as 50 cars have been pulled from the river in the last month, and 100,000 tons of metal has just been taken to a local recycling facility.

 Some of the cars may have been dumped in the river when they were no longer useful, but others were very clearly placed there with a purpose: to stabilize the banks of the river at some other time when the river banks failed.

the circled areas were all cleared out to set the river into a straighter faster flowing channel

when the floods go past the normal river banks, it's easy to see the natural width of the valley floor that thousands of years of floods created.... and that humans always ignore when building towns, cities, and homes

http://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/river-bank-revival-old-cars-among-debris-unearthed-in-rehab/article_83b9bc2a-cb0e-11e2-b2b7-0019bb2963f4.html