The Animas River is a waterway known for its scenic beauty and revered for its sometimes raging, other times winding path through the awe-inspiring San Juan Mountains.
What the river is not so commonly known for are the scattered rusting junk cars that line and blemish its embankments, many of which are starting to reappear as erosion exposes the decadeslong buried scrap metal.
“It’s made an awful eyesore,” said Duane Smith, a retired Fort Lewis College professor and local historian.
The story of how the junk cars got there traces back to a nationwide trend in the 1950s and 1960s. To prevent erosion, riprap – a catch-all term for materials used for embankment stabilization – would be installed along the sides of the river. Riprap usually consisted of dirt, concrete or rock.
But with the boom of the automotive industry in the mid-20th century, a new practice was born. Unusable vehicles would be dumped along riverbanks, usually reinforced by steel cables that tied together the car bodies. Because the vehicles were heavy, the practice was highly effective as opposed to using dirt or concrete.
The method soon became known as “Detroit riprap,” Smith said.
Ranchers protect land
Ed Zink, a longtime rancher north of Durango where most of the abandoned vehicles can be found, said the practice was common because farmers were protecting their land. Many deeds defined property boundaries in the middle of the Animas, so if the river was altered, ranchers and farmers could potentially lose land.
“If the river moved, you could either gain or lose land,” Zink said. “So people said, ‘I got this old car that doesn’t run and my riverbank is washing away, so why don’t I put it near the end of the river to deter erosion?’”
Zink said he couldn’t gauge how many cars were placed along the river. The valley is expansive and was not as socially connected as it is today, but he has a general impression there were dozens heaped along the Animas.
“Obviously, the culture has changed,” he said. “What was perceived to be acceptable years ago no longer is. At that time, it’s what people did.”
Outlawed in 1970s
The use of Detroit riprap stopped, or at least became illegal, in the 1970s with the passage of the Clean Water Act.
Zink said that legislation was the signal to ranchers that the country was changing its attitude toward certain traditional practices as it became more environmentally conscious.
“It was common practice all over the country, especially in the West,” said Kara Hellige, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Durango office. “Cars provided great bank stabilization, but it’s just not good practice for water quality and safety purposes, so we don’t allow it anymore.”
Hellige said the corp of engineers has no record of installing the Detroit riprap, and the agency is not responsible for cleanup. Instead, removal of rusting cars would be up to the property owner.
Tim Holt, also a longtime rancher, remembers it differently. He said the corp of engineers was in charge of constructing the line of cars. But, he said, most of the evidence of the junkyard automobiles is now gone.
“They had been in place for more than 30 years, but the river basically ate them,” Holt said. “You don’t mess with Mother Nature.”
It’s that breakdown of scrap metal that Hellige said could pose a risk to human health. Iron rusting probably has a minor effect on water quality, but the bigger danger lies with sunken debris harming recreational users of the river.
“Anything put along the banks won’t last forever,” she said. “Eventually, the material will end up in the channel.”
Curious oddity, not risk
Ultimately, the cars don’t seem to be a top priority of environmental risks to the Animas. There’s no countywide plan to remove the cars, and most of the abandoned vehicles are seen only by river enthusiasts north of Durango in the Animas Valley.
Tony Miley, an owner of 4Corners Riversports, said he sometimes fields questions from tourists about the rusting hulks of classic American cars, but most river users regard the sight as a curious oddity backdropped by the region’s natural beauty.
He said the real risk comes from the tons of train debris in the river near the Rockwood area and the Upper Animas.
“It’s definitely not safe for inflatable things,” he said. “There are 25-foot-long rails in some places, and those have damaged boats before.”
These days, property owners looking to prevent erosion use more natural methods. Depending on the nature of the stream channel, rocks, wooded debris or plant growth usually work best.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
