But it did rose out of mud.
When the ship left in 1912, the sandbar continued to grow, and Mud Island was born.
The poor Memphians, however, found the island a nice place to squat.
Beginning in the 1930s, the started building ramshackle homes built of scrap metal and wood.
Between 200 and 500 people lived on the island during this time.
Development really took off when the island opened an airport in 1959.
The river itself is a little stream that flows quietly south past minimalist cities and bridges rendered in steel.
The water drains to an acre-wide representation of the Gulf of Mexico where visitors could rent swan-shaped pedal boats.
An average of 1.2 million gallons of water flows through the river model every day.
Sources:Wikipedia,Roadside America,Moon Travel Guides,USAToday
