No doubt you're right....

But like you say.... "some" had to have survived?

We used to own land on the old Kings River. I say old because it no longer flows... or it does but not as a 'river'. I'll skip the explanation... my point being:

During flood years it DID flow... and flooding was always a possibility. Some here may remember just a few years ago my home was under severe threat of being flooded. Our field(s) bordered the river. In flood years my job was to patrol the levee for potential breaks. When I saw water seeping I'd jump on our D7 Cat with a dozer, dig out the levee down to the seepage then refill the levee tamping as I went to seal the break. I'm getting to your post.

In the summers we'd reinforce the levee.... anything we could find. Concrete from an old abandoned building, tin from barns and sheds.... AND.... old cars.

That levee, to this day, has I don't know how many old antique cars embedded in the levee bank to prevent a break. Dozens... could be a hundred of them! Model T's for sure and probably every other classic thru the 80's. Obviously rusted and un-salvageable today but still.... it's like a museum in that levee bank.... a museum that only I and a few others my age even know exists. - JamesJM