Wes Modes
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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
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Maddy and friends show up on a scavenger hunt from the History Museum
Maddy and friends show up on a scavenger hunt from the History Museum
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Clyde searches for treasures that had washed out of the riverbanks
Clyde was motor about in a tiny boat with his girlfriend to beaches on the Sac and American Rivers finding treasures that had washed out of the riverbanks. Old bottles, coins and brass buttons
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The mysterious Party Yacht Wall on the American River
The mysterious Party Yacht Wall on the American River
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Fanny Ann’s Saloon in Old Town Sac, 5 stories of layered history and Californiana kitsch
Fanny Ann’s Saloon in Old Town Sac, 5 stories of layered history and Californiana kitsch
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Shantyboat encounters the cutest thing in the whole world
Shantyboat encounters the cutest thing in the whole world
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Tell Us About Shantyboat Communities
Everywhere we go, we keep hearing that once upon a time, there were communities of shantyboaters living just at the edge of town along the river. We are putting the call out for you to contribute your story.
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Interview with Keith Turley, owner of Stingrayz Bar & Marina along the banks of the Sacramento River in Knights Landing
Interview with Keith Turley, owner of Stingrayz Bar & Marina along the banks of the Sacramento River in Knights Landing
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Shantyboat in the big city or pretty damn close. Chillin at Swabbies where pirate paraphernalia dominates
Shantyboat in the big city or pretty damn close. Chillin at Swabbies where pirate paraphernalia dominates
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Down past the confluence with the Feather River approaching Sac, the river broadens out into the big river we are used to from our adventures on the Mississippi and Tennessee
Down past the confluence with the Feather River approaching Sac, the river broadens out into the big river we are used to from our adventures on the Mississippi and Tennessee
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Shantyboat on the wide Sacramento. Photo by Mike Garofalo
Shantyboat on the wide Sacramento. Photo by Mike Garofalo
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Benzy’s drawing of the shantyboat docked at Stingrayz in Knight’s Landing
Benzy’s drawing of the shantyboat docked at Stingrayz in Knight’s Landing
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Knight Landing Drawbridge under which we are docked that creaks and rumbles as cars pass all night long
Knight Landing Drawbridge under which we are docked that creaks and rumbles as cars pass all night long
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Closest Thing to Civilization Between Red Bluff and Sac
We’d been looking forward to our arrival in Colusa. Not only was it the largest town on the Sacramento River between Red Bluff and Sac, but it was also the furthest south I’d ever been on the river on my three earlier raft and canoe trips. So everything from here on out would be completely…
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“And, it should be added, many of the shanty-boat types were rascals who could turn with complete ease to chicken stealing, to selling patent medicine, to being fourth-rate actors, or even pretending to be preachers if it appeared that’s fire-and-brimstone sermon might bring in a nice collection.” From Steamboats on the Mississippi
“And, it should be added, many of the shanty-boat types were rascals who could turn with complete ease to chicken stealing, to selling patent medicine, to being fourth-rate actors, or even pretending to be preachers if it appeared that’s fire-and-brimstone sermon might bring in a nice collection.” From Steamboats on the Mississippi
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Huge catfish dinner thanks to Benzy’s newly acquired mad fishing skills
Huge catfish dinner thanks to Benzy’s newly acquired mad fishing skills
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I’m getting the band back together. River hobos on the town
I’m getting the band back together. River hobos on the town
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The hot dry dusty town of Grimes reminds me of where I grew up with my grandparents
The hot dry dusty town of Grimes reminds me of where I grew up with my grandparents
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Hazel builds a little chuppah in the heat of the day
Hazel builds a little chuppah in the heat of the day
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Jeremiah spends the morning working a particularly tricky knot
Jeremiah spends the morning working a particularly tricky knot
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We love that people frequently bring us homegrown veggies. Who brought us the peck of pickled peppers?
We love that people frequently bring us homegrown veggies. Who brought us the peck of pickled peppers?
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Ships mate Jeremiah Daniels on his birthday, member of shantyboat crew on every expedition since 2014
Ships mate Jeremiah Daniels on his birthday, member of shantyboat crew on every expedition since 2014
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“County’s heritage from the ante-bellum South and states-rights sympathies”
“County’s heritage from the ante-bellum South and states-rights sympathies” is a bit of an understatement. In fact, Colusa County, a mostly rural Southern Democrat county, voted for California to secede from the Union. When Lincoln was assassinated many in the county celebrated, resulting in the arrests of the most adamant revelers by Union soldiers. While…
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Anthurium in the shantyboat. These civilizing touches are an important part of our wild journey
Anthurium in the shantyboat. These civilizing touches are an important part of our wild journey
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Association of Shantyboaters certification and various photos on the shantyboat
Association of Shantyboaters certification and various photos on the shantyboat
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Radio shelf, engine gauges, and tobacco shelf from top to bottom on the shantyboat
Radio shelf, engine gauges, and tobacco shelf from top to bottom on the shantyboat
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Behind the wheel of an early 80s Ford pickup to breakfast in Colusa thanks to Mike
Behind the wheel of an early 80s Ford pickup to breakfast in Colusa thanks to Mike
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ABC10 out of Sacramento has us do stupid human boating tricks for an extensive report about the Secret History project
ABC10 out of Sacramento has us do stupid human boating tricks for an extensive report about the Secret History project
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A Wild River
A treacherous adventure down a hazard-choked river – Rides from strangers – Water emergency – An Interview – Mr. Johnson fixed – Birthday pie
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Benzy’s patches to our meece-eaten screens probably saved us
Benzy’s patches to our meece-eaten screens probably saved us from getting eaten alive by bloodsucking carnivores in the night
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Happy and exhausted after an amazing day shantyboating with great friends
Happy and exhausted after an amazing day shantyboating with great friends
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After a morning dodging snags and gravel beds through a series of hazardous and scary ordeals…
After a morning dodging snags and gravel beds through a series of hazardous and scary ordeals, we deserve a moment of quiet drifting, fishing, and lunch buffet
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Breakfast birthday blackberry shantyboat pie! Yes, we have an oven
Breakfast birthday blackberry shantyboat pie! Yes, we have an oven
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Joe Lorenzo known around here as just Riverrat owns the boat that partly inspired the Secret History shantyboat
Joe Lorenzo known around here as just Riverrat owns the boat that partly inspired the Secret History shantyboat when we saw it ten years ago https://flic.kr/p/sLPi2F
