Wes Modes
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Flooding in West Central Illinois on the Illinois River
Flooding in West Central Illinois on the Illinois River
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Ceremonial witchcraft to salute the deer people who have died here
Ceremonial witchcraft to salute the deer people who have died here
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Keeping the driver awake with lurid and prurient tales
Keeping the driver awake with lurid and prurient tales: “She rolled over again, pushed a mass of inky hair away from her eyes, and surveyed her body with the satisfaction in which there was nothing of smugness. She knew it was a good body, a lovely body. It was too early for her to have…
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Shantyboat life at the Continental Divide. Stop and make coffee for the new driver. A beer for the one going off shift
Shantyboat life at the Continental Divide. Stop and make coffee for the new driver. A beer for the one going off shift
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The landscape of Wyoming is so powerful and evocative
The landscape of Wyoming is so powerful and evocative, it makes me imagine riding a horse over the prairie when I don’t even like riding horses
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Shantyboat at the Thunder Mountain Indian Monument along I80 in Nevada. A monument to native suffering at the hands of white folk
Shantyboat at the Thunder Mountain Indian Monument along I80 in Nevada. A monument to native suffering at the hands of white folk
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Images printed on silk for Secret History NYC show
Images printed on silk for Secret History NYC show
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Secret History photos printed on silk organza for NYC show at @whiteboxny
Secret History photos printed on silk organza for NYC show at @whiteboxny
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Treating the edges of several hundred feet of Secret History photos for our NYC exhibition at @whiteboxny
Treating the edges of several hundred feet of Secret History photos for our NYC exhibition at @whiteboxny
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Now from Redwood House Labs comes the Trailer Tester™! For the first time, you can test your trailer lights and brakes solo even without your vehicle
Now from Redwood House Labs comes the Trailer Tester™! For the first time, you can test your trailer lights and brakes solo even without your vehicle
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The Goodmans, Brett and Andi in the Felton Remembers Parade
The Goodmans, Brett and Andi in the Felton Remembers Parade
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Evidence of at least five different shantyboat projects on the Redwood House lab workbench
Evidence of at least five different shantyboat projects on the Redwood House lab workbench
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Benzy and I host an impromptu all-night solder party to work on various projects including an intra-boat telephone system for the shantyboat
Benzy and I host an impromptu all-night solder party to work on various projects including an intra-boat telephone system for the shantyboat
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So many things still to do before we can leave in a week. Oh god
So many things still to do before we can leave in a week. Oh god
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Incremental improvements on the shantyboat. New urinal pipe and blocks to support the gangplank
Incremental improvements on the shantyboat. New urinal pipe and blocks to support the gangplank
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I broke my vow not to do any more plumbing sweats for the shantyboat plumbing. Not great, but not bad
I broke my vow not to do any more plumbing sweats for the shantyboat plumbing. Not great, but not bad
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Santa Cruz Sentinel: “A Secret History” at Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival
Artist Wes Modes leaned against his shantyboat’s helm by the wooden dinette and his dog, Hazel, while he distributed free postcard photos of the 1940s-style vessel’s journeys on U.S. rivers.
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Art for the shantyboat gallery from Jessika and Jimmy Gallop https://jessikagallopart.weebly.com
Art for the shantyboat gallery from Jessika and Jimmy Gallop https://jessikagallopart.weebly.com
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Morning on the shantyboat at the Tannery Art Center
Morning on the shantyboat at the Tannery Art Center
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Shantyboat looking shipshape for exhibition on Cooper Street
Shantyboat looking shipshape for exhibition on Cooper Street
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Previous shipmates will know the terror of towing the shantyboat, this 7000 pound swaying trailer barreling down the road
Previous shipmates will know the terror of towing the shantyboat, this 7000 pound swaying trailer barreling down the road
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New additions to the Jeremiah Alexander Daniels Executive Washroom Gallery aboard the Shantyboat Dotty. Thanks to supporters who sent new art
New additions to the Jeremiah Alexander Daniels Executive Washroom Gallery aboard the Shantyboat Dotty. Thanks to supporters who sent new art
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Join us at Ebb and Flow in Santa Cruz tonight and tomorrow. Santa Cruz MAH Friday, Tannery At Center Saturday
Join us at Ebb and Flow in Santa Cruz tonight and tomorrow. Santa Cruz MAH Friday, Tannery At Center Saturday
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Amateur machinist work on the shantyboat control panel
Amateur machinist work on the shantyboat control panel
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Modifying the new boat stairs for Secret History exhibitions. An angle grinder will improve anyone’s day
Modifying the new boat stairs for Secret History exhibitions. An angle grinder will improve anyone’s day
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Proving that the project is not above child labor, we have helpers preparing the boat for the next two weekends of exhibitions Photo by @hickeyblvd
Proving that the project is not above child labor, we have helpers preparing the boat for the next two weekends of exhibitions Photo by @hickeyblvd
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On Friday and Saturday, June 1 and 2, The shantyboat & Secret History project will participate in at @tanneryartscenter. Find us on Cooper Street on Fri and Tannery Sat
On Friday and Saturday, June 1 and 2, The shantyboat & Secret History project will participate in at @tanneryartscenter. Find us on Cooper Street on Fri and Tannery Sat
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What This Means
Sometimes as the world falls apart, as the drumbeats of war sound, as ubiquitous corruption exposes the true values of capitalism, as the torrential rain of violence exposes America’s racist foundations, as people here and elsewhere suffer and hunger and thirst and die, why should my life’s work come to this? Is it conscionable to…
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Rediscovering our secret cache of Dr Thunder’s Peachy Fire Whiskey during a shantyboat workday. #shantyboat #secrethistory #firewhiskey
Rediscovering our secret cache of Dr Thunder’s Peachy Fire Whiskey during a shantyboat workday. #shantyboat #secrethistory #firewhiskey
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Join our Spring Fundraiser!
We are trying to raise $8000 by Saturday May 26 to collect forgotten stories along the Hudson River, and stage a major exhibition in New York City. Your support is critical.
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I live on a shantyboat and float major American Rivers to hear people’s stories. Ask me anything
Our Reddit AMA is live. We wanted to let you know about something happening with the project on Friday. But first some background… The online community Reddit invites notable guests to participate in public forums where participants can ask questions. These are called AMAs (for Ask Me Anything!). They have featured olympic medalists, astronauts, President…
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New York Exhibition Walkthrough
In July 2018, WhiteBox Art Space in New York is exhibiting A Secret History of American River People.
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Vintage 1880s albumen photo of a young family living on a houseboat
I recently bought a vintage albumen photograph of a young family living in (what I believe to be) a shantyboat on the banks of a frozen river. The seller told me that this particular image was included in a lot of 1880s photos of Cincinnati, and that the river is most likely the Ohio.
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Where we’ll be when on the Hudson River
As you know we are busy preparing our journey on the Hudson River. That preparation involves researching the river and towns we will visit, making contacts with potential interviewees, and lining up exhibitions and funding. One of the very first tasks of new river planning is mapping out river towns, their relative locations on the river, and…
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Furgary Boat Club & Shantytown
In the city of Hudson, known to tourists for its antique shops and fine dining, a cluster of century-old fishing shacks from the Hudson River estuary’s once prosperous shad fishery teeters on the waterfront.
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Ashworth shanty boat trip
Nancy E Buell shared this story with us about her family: Lewis Harrison Ashworth and wife Georgetta sold their farm in West Virginia and bought a houseboat. It was tied up near Charleston [West Virginia on the Kanawha River]. They waited for the spring floods to come and floated downriver to near Point Pleasant [at the confluence of…
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Norwegian Shantytown located in Red Hook, Brooklyn
This is the Norwegian Shantytown located in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The tall building is the Gowanus Grain Terminal on Columbia Street.
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BBC Slow Radio – Life on a shanty boat
A 20-minute watery odyssey – idling down the Tennessee River with the best thunderstorm in a tin shack you are ever going to hear… and some frogs…
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BBC Outlook – Building my own ‘shanty boat’
Wes Modes has spent the last few summers sailing along the great rivers of north America, collecting stories from the people who live on their banks. Wes travels in his homemade houseboat – or shanty boat – called Dotty.
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BBC Between The Ears – The Shanty Boat
In a rich tapestry of watery atmosphere, frustration, intimacy, fear and pleasure, we hear a slipping, sliding adventure, where the smell of pancakes, the slap of water and the smoke of cigars wafts over the waters of Americas great rivers.
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We’re Headed to New York
The Hudson River: Environmental fights. Mahican, Munsee and Wappinger removals. Northern slavery, resistance, and abolition. Fights against the pervasive control of capital. Historical and contemporary conflict. Who do you know who shoulders the weight of that history today? Who lives the legacy of that struggle now?
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The Mysteries of America’s Only Town Built By and For Chinese
We explore various delta towns, including a rare Chinese rural community.
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Busy Busy Busy in the State Capitol
Exhibits, new friends, interviews, party boats, and beachcombing in Sacramento
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Interview with Janet Bennett at the Dutra Museum of Dredging
Interview with Janet Bennett at the Dutra Museum of Dredging in Rio Vista. Everything you ever wanted to know about dredging and more
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Interview with Daniela Sartori in Red Bluff about living on the river
Interview with Daniela Sartori in Red Bluff about living on the river, gentrification, education in rural communities, and the fear that your two-year old will be swept away by the Sacramento River
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Large wreck under stormy skies on Sevenmile Slough as we drive out of the delta towing the shantyboat
Large wreck under stormy skies on Sevenmile Slough as we drive out of the delta towing the shantyboat
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Playing cards on the Davis to Sacramento train
Playing cards on the Davis to Sacramento train. We had to drive from Sac to Davis to catch an unnecessary train because Amtrak wouldn’t sell us a bus ticket from Sac to Red Bluff without a train segment on our ticket. It was still cheaper and faster than Greyhound
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Beautiful Places Between This and That
After Colusa, the character of the river changed. The levees moved right up near the river and most of the banks were rocked creating a channel walled from the adjacent fields by a thin scrim of trees. In many places, roads ran atop the levees so drivers were startled to see what appeared to be…
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Adorable old houseboats anchored in Little Potato Slough
Adorable old houseboats anchored in Little Potato Slough
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Kim Korth talked about the history of Korth’s Pirate’s Lair Marina and growing up on the Delta
Kim Korth talked about the history of Korth’s Pirate’s Lair Marina and growing up on the Delta
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The Fraser Bros were the local butchers, and they would deliver meat to the various ranches
A delta shop boat. “The Fraser Bros were the local butchers, and they would deliver meat to the various ranches up and down the river, by way [of] this vessel.” Photo at the Rio Vista History Museum
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Old photos of shantyboats at Wood Island at the Rio Vista Museum
Old photos of shantyboats at Wood Island at the Rio Vista Museum
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Tim Anderson, boatbuilder, maker, and heirloom technologist at his DeltaFarm
Tim Anderson, boatbuilder, maker, and heirloom technologist at his DeltaFarm, an organic farm and DIY tech experiment along the San Joaquin River
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Campfire at Tim Anderson’s DeltaFarm at the confluence of the Mokelumne and San Joaquin Rivers
Campfire at Tim Anderson’s DeltaFarm at the confluence of the Mokelumne and San Joaquin Rivers
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Why is it that people who own big expensive yachts are loud as fuck?
Why is it that some people who own big expensive new yachts are loud as fuck and don’t seem to care who hears them whether it be a drunken 1am or a caffeinated 8am? To be clear they are friendly (to us at least) but also willing to shout questions at us from across the…
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The peaceful and rustic back channel behind Snug Harbor
The peaceful and rustic back channel behind Snug Harbor off Steamboat Slough where there are a few folks living year-round on houseboats
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One of a surprising number of visible wrecks in the Sacramento Delta
One of a surprising number of visible wrecks in the Sacramento Delta
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Interview with Russell Ooms about his sinuous journey to Locke
Interview with Russell Ooms about his sinuous journey to Locke, 70s hippies, skinny dipping in the Slough, woodworking, anarchy, Chinese and Dutch values, and neighborhood conflicts
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Interview with photographer, author, and historian James Motlow
Interview with photographer, author, and historian James Motlow about the traditionally Chinese community of Locke and his 45 year history there
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Talked to Can, a Vietnamese electronics designer, who owns Bob’s
Talked to Can, a Vietnamese electronics designer, who owns Bob’s who told me the bait shop grew out of his love for delta fishing
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Iva at Mei Wah taproom where we are chillin drunk AF on a Thursday evening
Iva at Mei Wah taproom where we are chillin drunk AF on a Thursday evening
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Lucious lucious pears on pancakes for shantyboat breakfast
Lucious lucious pears on pancakes for shantyboat breakfast
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The mostly girl crew of the Sea Scout vessel Compass Rose who gave us a tour of the 60+ foot formal Naval ship
The mostly girl crew of the Sea Scout vessel Compass Rose who gave us a tour of the 60+ foot formal Naval ship
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Interviewing Mark Miller at Railroad Cut Slough
Interviewing Mark Miller at Railroad Cut Slough behind Locke. We talked about old Sac and delta river culture, paddling, and restoring old windows
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Bank on Locke Slough upon which a whole community of Russians living in shanties
Bank on Locke Slough upon which a whole community of Russians living in shanties until the early 2000s
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Community garden in the historic little town of Locke
Community garden in the historic little town of Locke
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Mark Miller who has already helped us in a number of ways, meets us in Walnut Grove to repair a window or two
Mark Miller who has already helped us in a number of ways, meets us in Walnut Grove to repair a window or two
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Put a huge branch through a window trying to land in Courtland. Fuck Courtland and their lack of visitor docks
Put a huge branch through a window trying to land in Courtland. Fuck Courtland and their lack of visitor docks
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In Courtland, they tell us, they have an annual Pear Festival
In Courtland, they tell us, they have an annual Pear Festival
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Attempting to thread our way through the delta sloughs piloting and navigating
Attempting to thread our way through the delta sloughs piloting and navigating
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Night out in the sloughs, the network of labyrinthian waterways in the Delta
Night out in the sloughs, the network of labyrinthian waterways in the Delta
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Interview with Andrew McLeod, historian and tour guide
3rd interview of the morning with Andrew McLeod, historian and tour guide, who told me about Sacramento topography, land use, native and early settlement history, class and racial politics, collective organization, revolutionary conflicts, and the future of the city in the inevitable flooding to come
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Interview with Kathy Brunetti about her decades of experience working on agriculture and water quality issues
Interview with Kathy Brunetti. We talked about her decades of experience working on agriculture and water quality on the Sacramento River
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Interview with Nancy about her time living aboard a shantyboat on the Sacramento River
Interview with Nancy about her time living aboard a shantyboat on the Sacramento River
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Bar camping out for 25 years, currently along the American River serves as a mentor to younger folk and describes himself as an “honest hustler
Bar camping out for 25 years, currently along the American River serves as a mentor to younger folk and describes himself as an “honest hustler