Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-07-07
so FAMILIES LIVE
LIKE ABORIGINES
ON RIVER ISLAND
In Shadows of Skyscrapers
Of City, They Exist in
Primitive Style.

MEMPHIS.-With the rising of the
sun each morning Memphis sky
scrapers cast shadows over an is
land wilderness where 200 persons
live like backwoods folk found in re-
mote sections of the Southland.
Separated from the busy Memphis
waterfront by the narrow Wolf river
and from Arkansas fish docks by the
mighty Mississippi, Mud island
which 20 years ago did not exist
is the homeland of so families who
live on farms where they can hear
the noises of big city and the whis-
ties of steamboats, plying the
streams.
On this thickly wooded island
little more than stones throw from
Memphis busiest corner-smoke
curls from the chimneys of tiny,
ramshackle cabins half hidden in the
swaying willows. Dogs bark loudly
and viciously at approaching stran-
gers. BOOSTERS crow and hens
cackle. Pigs grunt in their back
yards while wind made odorous
by the dirty, fetid father of waters
walls through the trees.
Rabbits in Underbrush.
The quick rustic of startled rabbits
is heard in the underbrush. Crows
cav harshly as they wheel and glide
over cornfields and rows of cotton.
Mud island first appeared in Men,
phis' harbor about 20 years ago and
has grown until it now covers sew
eral hundred acres, forming an oval
shaped island which is more than
mile long and mile across at its
widest point. All the efforts of the
United States army engineers to
block formation of the island, which
almost ruined Memphis fine harbor,
were futile.
Families on Mud island-it was
called that for lack of a better name
live in houses mounted on big logs
or empty oil drums. The drums and
logs serve as f1oaters for the houses
when high waters cover the island.
Some live in houseboats-arks of
the modern day-which rest on the
ground when the stream is low and
above the ground when the water
reaches flood levels. Every house
is anchored fast. To live in an un-
floatable house on Mud island is I'm
thinkable, for almost every winter
the water goes so high that even the
tops of trees are covered.
None Pay Taxes.
Residents on the island pay no
taxes of any sort, and everyone
owns his own home. Naturally, there
are no modern conveniences, and
the greatest problem is that of OBJ
tanning drinking water. Almost all
the inhabitants trap rain water in
barrels, while others row across
Wolf river to Memphis to get their
supply.
Most of the islands dwellers are
unemployed or part-time working
riverfolk who are satisfied to be
near the stream that holds some
mysterious charm. They are con-
tent to do perhaps one days work
each month and to spend the rest of
their time tending their small crops,
hunting in veritable jungle where
wild life is abundant, or fishing in
ever-productive coves around the is
land.
The island. which belongs to Ten
nessee, has been considered for
various purposes by state officials,
among them the idea of constructing
a convenient airport. But every plan
advanced has been abandoned, for
some day the whimsical Mississippi
may take the island away as rapid
ly as he built it. Until that time
Mud islanders probably will live in
peace.