Wes Modes
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Readying Shantyboat and Other Trip Details
So while the Kickstarter has been doing its thing and we’ve been trying to promote it and talk you into sharing it with your friends, family, strangers, etc. (It’s not too late!) we’ve been hard at work making sure the expedition will be successful. Every weekend for the last several months Jeremiah, James and I…
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A Request to Tell a Friend or Three
Thanks for your support of A Secret History of American River People. We received a huge vote of confidence from Kickstarter when we became Friday’s Staff Pick. The campaign started off great guns, staff pick, great video from Regina Ortinez, lots of attention, but slowing now a bit. We really want to make sure we are able…
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Reddit: I am an artist spending the summer in a shantyboat on the Mississippi River gathering stories of river people. AMA!
I am Wes Modes, DIY boater and artist. For years I’ve been building DIY boats, often out of trash, and floating down major American rivers. Last year, we put our homemade untested houseboat in the Misssissippi River for a month to gather stories of river people (with my ex-sweetheart at ship’s mate). When we did…
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Secret History Summer 2015 Kickstarter
We are excited to announce the Secret History Upper Mississippi Expedition Kickstarter! Thanks to your support, last summer we traveled across country with the Shantyboat to the Mississippi River and spent a month gathering stories of river people. We interviewed dozens of folks, adventures, scientists, storytellers, river rats, boathouse people. Then we came back and…
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The Producer’s Log: MFA Exhibition Reportback
Introducing Regina Ortanez who has been working as a producer on the Secret History project for the entire academic year. This is an excerpt from her production journal during the MFA exhibition.
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Introducing Freddie
You remember last year when we were on the river with Mr. Johnson? We got him a friend. We want to introduce you to Freddie.
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2015 Summer Voyage on Upper Mississippi
Starting in late June, the Secret History shantyboat will be back on the Upper Mississippi River for a series of exhibitions and an entire summer of fieldwork gathering river stories.
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What happened to the last 5 months?
Grad school. That’s what. MFA Exhibition prep. Reading books. Production of the Secret History web doc. Working with the production team. That’s where. Whew. Okay, so I can take a deep breath. I just finished with the four day UCSC Digital Art and New Media MFA exhibition in which I and 11 other artists exhibited…
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Meet the Production Team
Meet the production team that helped make the Secret History of American River People web documentary.
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Maiden Launch (vintage remix)
The shantyboat Dotty’s maiden launch. Dropping a completely untested boat into one of the largest rivers on the continent.
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Life On the River – 2015 Trailer
The amazing Secret History River Life trailer by filmmaker Monica Yap.
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Jessica Bierbrauer and the Future River
Jessica Bierbrauer, director of the Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center in Prescott WI, talks about the future of the river.
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John Sullivan and Fish Kills
John Sullivan, retired DNR officer in La Crosse WI, talks about river water quality and battling sources of pollution.
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Jessica Bierbrauer and Lost History
Jessica Bierbrauer, director of the Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center in Prescott WI, talks about personal stories that are lost or buried.
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Kali Arlene and Latsch Island
Kali Arlene, Latsch Island boathouse resident in Winona MN, talks about living on the river and interactions with the people who live in town.
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(Frozen) Water Under the Bridge
A week on the Mississippi River in the dead of winter results in some delightful and productive meetings.
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Ice Fishing Shack on Lake Winona
One of my goals in returning to the Upper Mississippi was to talk to people using the river in its frozen state. I’d been hearing stories of ice fishermen for years on Prairie Home Companion, but had never seen or experienced it.
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La Crosse Boathouses
Down in La Crosse for the day, I hung out for a bit where boathouses line both banks along the partially frozen Black River.
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Ice on Frog Slough
The other day I had just finished talking to the great people at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum which boasts an amazing collection of art by European masters and contemporary artists. I had a moment or two before my next interview so I went down to the river where the boathouses on Frog Pond had…
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An Intense Winter Fieldwork Trip
Tomorrow I am leaving for Minnesota and Wisconsin for a week of intense interviewing. 14 interviews in 6 days. Along with river experts, artists, and community engagement people, I hope to be talking to Hmong, Vietnamese, African-American, and Prairie Island Indian folk who are connected with the river. Along with all my cold weather gear,…
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Experiments with Multimedia
The production team and I are working on cutting various transitions between segments in the Secret History Web Documentary. Here is a sweet river moment I wanted to share. It makes a nice soothing backdrop for a nap.
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Shantyboat at FIGMENT Oakland
A Secret History exhibited at FIGMENT in Oakland, a one day art festival that brings Burning Man values of creative expression, gift economy, and participation to our urban environment.
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Lauren Donovan and the Creepy Guy
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to New Orleans, talks about an unexpected meeting while camping along the river.
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Sunset on the Sacramento Delta
A relaxing evening at sunset from a recent trip on the shantyboat on the Sacramento River.
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The Producer’s Journal: Catching up
A note about the Producer’s Journals: They make either super awesome insider geek info or the most boring blog ever, depending on your inclination. Your mileage may vary. So if you are the type of person who watches the Making Of segment after the main feature on the DVD, read on… I was getting stern…
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The Producers Journal: A Week of Amnesia and Delirium
It was a strange week of going through the motions with a strange kind of stoner consciousness. A delirium possibly due to just pure information overload.
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Beautiful People I’ve Interviewed
With help from numerous people who work and live on the Mississippi River, I am creating an ongoing digital archive of personal histories. These are just some of the people I interviewed as part of A Secret History of American River People.
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History of Flatboating and a Charming Educational Film
A very brief history on the evolution of river craft from flatboats, store boats, and shantyboats.
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Secret History Shantyboat Exhibiting in November
At two art exhibits in November, the shantyboat will be on display, with the Secret History archive and library on exhibit within.
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Ken Lubinski on the Resilience of Nature
Ken Lubinski, river ecologist at the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse talks about a winter walk and the resilience of nature.
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Unusual photos of the Shantyboat
Two unusual portraits of the shanyboat from inside, one a panorama and the other an interactive frozen moment.
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Santa Cruz Sentinel: Artist turns a journey down the Mississippi into rich oral history
We’re all sharing our “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” anecdotes around the metaphorical water cooler this time of year. Long-time Santa Cruz artist and activist Wes Modes has his story too, though it might sound to many ears as if the summer vacation he’s talking about is the summer of 1881. Modes launched an…
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People’s History Expedition on Upper Mississippi: A Reportback
The Secret History expedition — a reportback on the journey, with photos, video, and reportbacks from the rest of the crew.
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Film and Digital Media Independent Study
This independent study provides a focused research experience as we analyze the Secret History archive from a post-modern historical standpoint and present the archive through film/video and new media.
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Support For This Project
We had a successful fundraiser which covered a portion of the expected costs, but particularly challenging were some of the sneaky show-must-go-on surprise costs. We could use your financial support.
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PA’s Diary #2, lovingly entitled A Leaf on the Wind
The Production Assistant’s report, a lock and dam, a cute town with no river rats, and a storm.
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This River Life Drawing to a Close
For weeks and miles people have been asking us, “How far you going?” and really we had no way to answer that question. We had no idea how far we’d get. We knew, however, that we had limited time.
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Brownsville Boathouses
After La Crosse, we made our way down to Brownsville where there are several groups of boathouses. Boathouses are houses that float, differentiated from houseboats which are mobile.
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Jim Ehrsam and Other People Not Interviewed
On the day before we were leaving La Crosse I met a man who’d lived in his boathouse on the Black River for 65 years. It kills me that I didn’t have the time to interview him, though we did sit for a while and watch the sunset. I’ve found it takes about three days to set up…
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A Night in Winona and the Production Assistant’s Report
A report back by PA Jeremiah upon his departure at La Cross, Wisconsin
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![Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]](https://peoplesriverhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5D3_0978_0-672x372.jpg)
Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]
We’ve done our best to try to let people know we are coming downriver. Some of the local press have picked up our story.
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La Crosse WXOW: 2 art students take journey in shantyboat on Mississippi
Two art students from California are traveling down the Mississippi River this month in a one of a kind boat, while working on a project called Secret History of the American River People.Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are both masters art students at the University of California Santa Cruz, floating down the river in a…
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La Crosse Tribune: Artist plies Mississippi in Shantyboat to net historical portraits
California-based artists Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are traveling down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to Davenport, Iowa, collecting oral histories and stories of river people. Modes, a grad student at University of California Santa Cruz, is doing the project for his master’s thesis. The Shantyboat, built largely from salvage from a chicken coop, is…
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Typical Shantyboat Questions and Answers
Within minutes of arriving at the town docks, we have visitors. Our conversations follows a typical pattern kinda like this.
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Charming La Crosse, Wisconsin and a Theory About the Uneven Distribution of Social Capital
A sprained ankle, a man in a bowler hat, charming downtown La Crosse, Mr. Johnson acts up, and a theory about social connectivity
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Winona Post: History afloat down the river
It is August on Latsch Island, that beautiful time of year when everything moves a little slower, from the water that laps up the sides of boathouses, to the mellow hum of nearby cicadas. Inside a small shanty boat anchored off a sandy plot of land beside the Wagon Bridge, two people sit relaxed at…
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Into the Storm on the Open River
Unless we survive this storm. We are anchored on a long northwest reach in a stiff northwest wind with waves whipping up around us. The anchor is holding for the moment. How did we get here?
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Electronics Are Not Waterproof (URGENT)
URGENT SITUATION: My iphone took at drink in the Mississippi River. I rely on it for all the work I do on the Secret History project (research, connections, internet connectivity) and I need a replacement desperately.
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Stuck on a Sandbar, Civil Defense, and Flying Predators
While making our way downriver, we saw lots of barges that were hung up waiting for a dredging operation around Alma. We found the mothership of tugboats. This one was enormous, with all the little tugs suckling at it like piglets. It is hard to convey the scale of this boat. We also encountered working barges…
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A Watery Death on Lake Pepin Narrowly Averted
The sun was shining and the wind was still and the waters were calm on legendarily treacherous Lake Pepin so we started drinking white Russians, what could possibly go wrong?
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A High Speed Water Chase, Flyswatting, and Madness
We venture on to Lake Pepin where we encounter both miracles and madness
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Engine Solutions, Party in the Lock, River Days, and a 97 Year Old Woman
More of the generosity of strangers in Prescott, WI and Red Wing, MN. A small town celebration and meeting lots and lots of great people.
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Minneapolis Star Tribune: Shantyboat heads down the Mississippi, gathering stories
The Mississippi River has changed in many ways over the past century, becoming cleaner, less industrial and less economically essential. But there are still places where the banks are lined with houseboats. “There’s folks who are river rats who’ve had their own river-rafting journeys starting in Minneapolis. Many of them have floated all the way…
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Lauren Donovan on Nearly Drowning at Lock 11
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to New Orleans, talks about nearly drowning in Lock 11 near Dubuque, Iowa.
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Mike’s Shantyboat
Mike Mosedale is a great fella I met in St. Paul at the River City Review a few weeks ago. Since then I’ve adopted him as a great friend. He’s generously dumped on us all kinds of sweetness — oars and cleats for the Dottie, an old fishing pole, beers, great stories.
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Engine Troubles, Burger Lexicon, A Theft, and Much Generosity
St. Paul, MN to Prescott, WI and the many awesome people we met as well as a story of grievous mischief and unimagined generosity.
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Hastings Star Gazette: California artist in shantyboat stops in Hastings during Mississippi River tour
Hastings Star Gazette/Pierce County Herald by Chad Richardson It’s not uncommon to see boats moored on the public dock in Hastings. There’s not much common about the boat that Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are traveling in, though. Their unique boat, which was parked in Hastings on July 30 and July 31, drew all kinds of…
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Peter Rachleff on the Creativity of Poor People
Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, talks about how poor people in the Twin Cities have historically used the sawn ends and off cuts from the sawmills to build shanties.
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First Few Days on the River
We’ve had our first few days on the river. We went through out first few locks! Amazing. Especially going down, like being in a giant bathtub when someone pulls the plug. We met friends at 34th St beach where Robnoxious hosted a lovely going away party for the crew of the Secret History shantyboat. He…
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Living on the Shantyboat
Here are a few shantyboat details minutes before our departure from Boom Island.
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Send Off Party
Our Minneapolis friends are organizing us a Shantyboat Send Off Party Saturday evening 7pm at 34th St. beach In SW Minneapolis! Come see the boat, the crew, and hazel the dog! Camp fire & beers. Feel free to bring a bon voyage gift! Such needed things as AA & AAA batteries, rope, cornmeal, gallons of…
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Shantyboat Runabout
Today we powered up Mr. Johnson and motored about in the tiny Boom Island marina we have been moored at since we launched. Hazel and I crossed under the pedestrian bridge and out into the wider river.
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Shantyboat Open House
Drop on by to check out the Shantyboat, share stories, and browse the growing Secret History library.
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The Secret History Shantyboat is Afloat
This afternoon after two years of building, months of planning, and nearly a week of driving, we launched the shantyboat in Minneapolis.
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15 Discoveries After Two Days of (nearly) Non-Stop Driving
Bug massacre, crossing the Rockies, mysterious cattle, new truck, two good diners, and making progress.
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A Brief Tour of One Random Neighborhood in Salt Lake City
We found ourselves stranded on a Sunday in Salt Lake City and explored one nifty neighborhood.
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For Your Information: The Rockies Are Big
In which our heroes discover that the Rocky Mountains eat heavy duty trucks for late night snack — We meet Chuck the all-day all-night tow truck driver who loves puppies — We travel up the Rocky Mountains at 15mph and back down at 70
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Desert Crossing
Today was the day I had scheduled to be in Minneapolis. The world being what it is, we adapt our expectations to our real world experiences. Instead we are in the Nevada desert. The old truck struggles to pull our big windsail of a boat. I need to do more research for the oral history…
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The Trouble With Building a Boat in California
Stuck in California needing a new radiator. We are trying to raise $2500 quick like to fix the truck and provide a tiny contingency fund.
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A Series of Unfortunate Events
California, we love you, but please please let us achieve escape velocity. We are still in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is beer thirty and we are sitting coolly in the shantyboat on this hot hot day drinking tall cans of PBR, reading (Kai) and blogging (me). This morning we were woken…
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Finally On Our Way
Our list of Must-Dos in the last few days was ridiculous. Finish the motor well, put cabinet doors on, plumb sink, pack, move in, and on and on. We delayed the trip first by a day then by several hours but finally after a half dozen exhausting long days almost got everything in shape for…
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The Joys and Heartache of Saying Goodbye
With days left before our departure for the Secret History expedition, we hosted a launch party at the boatyard. We invited all the people who’ve worked on the boat over the last two years and who’ve supported the project.
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Odds and Ends We Still Need
This is like a Secret History scavenger hunt whose items include your local paper and old people.
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On the Eve of the Secret History Expedition
Our shantyboat nears completion and we are readying it for the Secret History of American River People expedition on the Upper Mississippi starting in a few days.
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A Month of Fervent Preparation
It was a busy month making preparations for the soon-to-be-launched Secret History expedition and a time of extraordinary support from many quarters.
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Minneapolis Reconnaissance
I have been in Minneapolis for the last week doing reconnaissance for our upcoming journey. Here is a selection of photographs from the trip.
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How You Can Help
We’re scrambling to get the trip together by July, including making research connections at organizations and universities near the river. Outfitting the Shantyboat Rooted in the DIY and art worlds, by any real world standards, the Secret History project has a humble budget. However, we expect the project to require upwards of $10 thousand. Still looming are…
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Shantyboat on the Mississippi
In July, we are bringing the shantyboat across country to launch in the Mississippi River on an art and history expedition: Thanks to espressobuzz for the historic photo A journey to rediscover the lost narratives of river people, river communities, and the river itself. Secret History is an anthro-historical artist’s journey through the history of…
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Reddit: I am an artist who hopes you don’t read about my death when we launch our homemade (and untested) shantyboat on the Mississippi River AMA!
For years I’ve been building DIY boats, often out of trash, and floating down major American rivers. This year, we’re launching the shantyboat we’ve been working on for two years on the Upper Mississippi River on an “anthro-historical journey to uncover the lost narratives of river people, river communities, and the river itself,” part of…
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Indebtedness
In no particular order, here is an ever-growing list of those who’ve helped make the project possible: Kai Dalgleish – First Mate on the Secret History Expedition for tremendous effort over two years to ready the shantyboat for the journey, for problem-solving acumen, and a can-do attitude. Dorothy and Lawrence Manzo – who generously offered…
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Time is an Enormous, Long River
Time is an enormous, long river, and I’m standing in it, just as you’re standing in it. My elders are the tributaries, and everything they thought and every struggle they went through and everything they gave their lives to, and every song they created, and every poem that they laid down flows down to me…
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A People’s River History
Secret History seeks to examine both the historical context of lost river communities and the forces that displaced them. The project looks at the economic and social situation of still-existing river communities that have been largely abandoned by their populations.
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History
There is a long forgotten history in America of people living in homemade shantyboats, a reasonable and cost-free solution for displaced people in rural areas and workers in urban areas.
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The Forgotten River
The river. The forgotten waterways that flow through most towns, often culverted, hidden behind levees, shoved underground or behind the grubbiest neighborhood.
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A Secret History of American River People
Secret History is an ongoing research effort to discover, present, and connect the lost narratives of working class river communities from the deck of a recreated shantyboat that serves as both the vehicle for this journey and the project library and archive.
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Invisible Stories
While much has been written about the immigrant experience in rural America, the first hand stories of women, native people, and people of color is much less accessible. These invisible stories, form a critical piece of our shared histories.
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The Project
Secret History is a on-gong research effort to discover and present the lost narratives of river people and river communities from the deck of a recreated shantyboat that servers a the project library and archive.
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What the #*@&% happened?
You must hate me. Last I left you with “Walls take shape” and then radio silence for six months. Did I lose interest in the project? Get tragically killed by a falling jet engine? No, I’m not dead and the project is moving along albeit a little more slowly. I started grad school. Which means…
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We Turn To The River – 2014 Trailer
The Secret History lyrical trailer from the talented Lauren Kincaid-Filbey with footage from the Sacramento River Delta.
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Roof Rafters – The cabin takes shape
When we disassembled the Hollister chicken coop, we got a bunch of beautiful old 1×12 redwood siding, a shitton of corrugated metal, a handful of old dimensional redwood 2x4s, and finally, a dozen or so roof rafters, complete with birdsmouths. True they were old and some were a little worse for wear, rotted at the…
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Cabin Framing, More Mistakes Were Made
If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not being good as things. But given my delightfully blinding optimism, I plunge on ahead anyway, learning a ton with each monumental goof. You remember the cabin framing looked like this. That’s more or less an eight foot wall, with maybe 1 foot 8 inches below the…
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Cabin Wall Framing. Finally.
Whew, finally. We get to constructing the cabin walls. This is the fun part for me. As a former carpenter, framing construction is well-within my comfort zone. Initially, it looked like it would be easy as pie. I planned to simplify the standard stud construction to reduce weight: (single) sole plate + studs + (single) top plate +…
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New Boat Vocabulary Word: Coaming
One of the smarter things I’ve done on the shantyboat, was to add a coaming around the edge of the cabin. A new vocab word for me as I slowly get all nautical during the one plus year shantyboat build: coam·ing /ˈkōmiNG/ Noun A raised border around a ship’s hatch serving to support the hatch…
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A Collection of Photos from a Non-Shantyboat River Float
I took a two-week break from building the shantyboat to float the Sacramento River. I post this here, because floating on these big rivers is where I got the craving for living on a shantyboat. Some of my favorite times are from drifting aimlessly in our DIY raft during hot summer days. These rafts were…
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Bow Eyes and Stern Tiedowns
Sometimes little things can be a big headache. And sometimes big headaches can turn out not to be that big a deal at all. And so it was with the bow eyes and stern tiedowns. Here’s the idea, I have a trailerable shantyboat. It is really really nice if when I am towing down the…
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The Cabin Has a Floor
Let’s put in a floor! This is the floor that will be inside the cabin. Remember the beautiful old redwood I got from the chicken shed that Jen, Kai, Alex and I salvaged last year? I wanted to use these thick 1x12s for flooring in the boat. The also have the advantage of putting some weight…
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Obsessive woodworking, top side
With both decks on, I could be an obsessive woodworker again. First I shimmed up any really large gaps with thin pieces of wood, epoxying them on. Then I routed all the edges. Once I sanded down the bumps and the previous coat of fiberglass, there were still some larger structural gaps that I wanted…