
10 makercampus.com
MADE ON EARTH
Wes Modes wears many hats, and one is captain.
The northern California-based educator and
artist spent most of the last decade dedicating
his summers to floating down 2,600 miles of
river aboard his shantyboat, the Dotty, to explore
the forgotten life of the American river people.
“Rivers were the arteries of America,” he says. “It
was how goods got around, it was how people got
around, and it was how ideas got spread.”
Rivers also offered refuge to thousands
of poor Americans, who would scavenge for
barrels, tires, tin, and other free parts to build
a home to dock on the fringes of society. But
after the go