Title page

"Congress took the first positive step toward federal participation in the Alaskan hatchery program when it passed a sundry civil bill on March 3, 1905. This bill appropriated $50,000 for construction and operation of one or more salmon hatcheries in Alaska by the Bureau of Fisheries.

"The Bureau immediately began selection of a site with the view that the hatchery must be operational by the time spawn could be taken in the fall. H.C. Fassett, a Bureau employee familiar with Alaska, recommended three sites: 1) the lower end of the Wood River in Bristol Bay, 2) Afognak Island and 3) Yes Bay in Southeast Alaska. Afognak Island had already been set aside by Presidential Proclamation as a fish culture reserve, and Yes Bay had been temporarily reserved for the same purpose.

"The Secretary of Commerce and Labor, under whose supervision the Commissioner of Fisheries operated approved the proposed hatchery site at Yes Bay and had the solicitor of his department advise the President of the United States to permanently reserve the land. This Presidential Proclamation, made February 1, 1906, set aside portions of Yes Bay as a hatchery reserve. The reserve was described as both land and water area, including the lake and its catchment basin, its outlet and portions of the shoreline in Yes Bay and Back Bay

"The selection of Yes Bay was based on several factors. First was its proximity to established transportation routes, a major advantage in 1905. Yes Bay was only 45 miles from Ketchikan which was one of the principal ports of Southeast Alaska. Steamers to and from Puget Sound arrived and departed daily for half of the year and two or three times a week during the rest of the year. An established run by a mailboat also existed between Ketchikan and Yes Bay. Another factor was that the city would provide a temporary labor force and a sawmill and all necessary grades of lumber in stock. These factors lowered costs and saved time.

"This company did not operate the cannery which was located at the mouth of the Yes River. This cannery was first operated in 1889 and became a part of the Pacific Packing and Navigation Company consolidation, a firm which failed. Yes Bay was thus opened to fishing by another company: in this case APA. At about the time the hatchery site was selected the bankrupt concern was purchased by Northwestern Fisheries Company, a company which operated hatcheries in Alaska. The purchase prompted Fassett to include a warning to the Commissioner that Northwestern Fisheries Company might feel that they had vested rights to a hatchery site on the lake selected under the 1900 act. This proved to be a needless precaution as the company sold the Yes Bay cannery to Charles Burkhardt and Company, who operated it under various names and who showed no interest in operating a hatchery. 

"Once the Yes Bay location was selected, Claudis Wallich was appointed to supervise the construction. Wallich, superintendent of the Bureau's Clackamas, Oregon hatchery and a former contractor and builder, was accomplished in fish culture.

"Wallich and F.M. Chamberlain, at that time a naturalist from the Albatross, sailed for Alaska by commercial steamer on May 18, 1905, a little over ten weeks after the appropriation was made. Chamberlain was assigned to make a biological survey of the Yes Bay region. It was the first time either man had been to the site selected for the hatchery. After the pair arrived at Yes Bay, it was necessary to carry a rowboat to the lake and row four and a half miles to the head of the lake where they pitched camp.

"They looked for a satisfactory water source for three days, but no springs could be located. Wallich and Chamberlain could not find anyone who had been to the lake in the winter so no information was available as to whether any stream remained open. Water temperatures were tested in several streams and with slight variations all were found to be the same as the inlet stream, Walker Creek, i.e., 52 degrees F. Wallich finally recommended the water from this stream be used in the hatchery, saying .. "We can scarcely see why the water in which fish naturally deposit their spawn should be unfavorable for hatchery purposes, yet this seems to be an Alaskan prejudice." Wallich did not question the water's purity or quantity, but was unsure of its reliability during the winter.

"After this intitial investigation, Wallich and Chamberlain made necessary preparations for construction of a hatchery at this remote site and returned with a crew and the Albatross several weeks later. The crew lived in quarters provided by the cannery at first, but finally moved to improvised quarters at the hatchery site in August.

"The first project was a transportation system. The navigator of the Albatross made a number of sights for laying out a one-half mile long tramway from Back Bay to McDonald Lake. A gasoline launch and sufficient materials to build a 12 foot by 24 foot scow to haul supplies were taken over the completed tramway. This system of tramway and launches with barges was upgraded, increased, and maintained during the life of the station.

"After completion of the transportation system, the water system was begun at the hatchery site. A trail 10 feet by 4,250 feet was slashed through the brush to the pool below the falls. The navigator again helped by laying out the flume's path. The wooden plank flume was four feet wide, one foot deep, and 1,200 feet long with a capacity of 4,000 to 5,000 gallons per minute. It was constructed through the creek bottom and along the edge of the bank protected by riprap. When the flume was nearly completed in September, Wallich took 7,440,000 eggs from a large run of sockeye salmon. Hatchery baskets, which had been constructed by the crew, were filled with eggs and placed in the upper part of the flume to incubate. These eggs were moved to the hatchery later in the winter when the building was completed.

"The hatchery, designed by a Bureau of Fisheries architect and engineer, was typical of Bureau hatcheries in the United States. Hatchery troughs were 16 feet long by 17 inches wide of 1.5 inch lumber, and were placed in double rows of three troughs each with 1.5 inch fall between troughs. Standard egg baskets were used in the troughs. Construction costs by April, 1906 were $24,130.09 and did not include the steam heating plant, which was estimated to cost $1,000.

"Problems with the location of the new hatchery were immediately evident. Wallich's and Chamberlain's assessment that the level, low-lying land was not subject to serious overflow proved incorrect. The men moved to the hatchery building when all quarters and the messhouse had two feet of water over the floors in November, 1905. On the report to the Bureau's headquarters in Washington, D.C. an official wrote in the margin: "Good Engineering!"

"Another time the water was so high workers used a rowboat to get from quarters to the messhouse. Floods not only caused inconveniences but also jeopardized hatchery operations. The flume raised during a flood in November 1907 and for two days there was danger of it washing away. Mud from the intake pool washed into the troughs but apparently did no damage. Thirty feet of flume washed away in 1917 but a pump was used until the flume was repaired.

"Ice turned out to be the most serious problem. Severe winters occurred in 1905 and 1909, and the open flume froze solid both times, although no eggs were lost. Men worked day and night chopping a notch in the ice so that water could reach the hatchery. About 1,000 gallons per minute were normally needed for the hatchery. Only 500 gallons per minute were used in the winter when the water was near freezing. Attempts were made to improve the water supply system but this task proved to be formidable. All changes and new construction in the facility had to be approved in Washington, D.C. and all funds came from Congressional appropriations. Against these odds, a battle began to replace the flume with a pipeline.

"The pipeline was finally installed .......when the station was rebuilt in 1920. Considerable construction and repair essential to proper maintenance of the station were undertaken. When it appeared the flume had reached the full extent of its endurance at the end of the fiscal year 1919, the annual hatchery appropriation was used for installation of the pipeline. This gave the hatchery a water supply with ample reserve for future expansion. An allowance was made for furnishing power for a lighting plant. The station was closed to fish culture work in 1920, and a new foundation placed under the hatchery, replacement hatchery troughs installed, and 6,000 feet of 16 inch by 18 inch wood stave pipe laid, 2,300 feet of it on trestles.

"Fish culture work resumed at the Yes Bay hatchery in 1921. Unfortunately the pipeline traded one set of winter woes for another. Employees no longer cut ice out of the flume to assure a flow of water. Instead when anchor ice formed in the intake pool, the crew chopped ice, often throughout the night. This effort was necessary throughout the life of the station.

"All facilities were heated with wood, so the employees spent much time logging, cutting rounds, splitting and distributing wood to all buildings. About 200 cords of wood were used each season in later years.

"Although the site created problems from ice and floods, Wallich and Chamberlain were correct in their assessment of the proximity of the spawning grounds. Walker Creek had the major run of sockeye salmon in the lake. A rack or weir, over 200 feet long, was erected each July. Piling were driven and a permanent apron was embedded in the stream in 1920 and replaced in 1929. The wooden slatted rack pieces were numbered and so arranged that when taken out in the fall, they would be in regular order for use the following season. Despite every precaution, some years the rack washed out during high water.

"Beach seines, 450 feet long, were used to capture the fish below the rack. The seine was strung from the rack, then a crew of 11 or 12 men, each clad in waders, pulled the seine around the fish. Alphonse Kemmerich, a former superintendent, remembers that six million eggs were spawned in 1932 from one seine haul. Once captured, fish were tested for ripeness and green fish released. Standard spawning procedures adopted by the Bureau of Fisheries were used. The spent carcasses were thrown into the lake until 1914 when fish were salted in barrels for use as fish food.

"Sockeye salmon were the major species from which eggs were taken. From 1907-1916 the superintendent started taking sockeye eggs on September 1 to 3. Later superintendents usually started the second week in September. The spawning season depended upon many factors, but generally ran from four to six weeks.

"The annual closure of Yes Bay was established by the Presidential Proclamation of 1906 which set aside the site for a hatchery reserve. It stated that fishing was permitted only when, in the opinion of the hatchery superintendent, salmon had entered Yes Bay in sufficient numbers to supply the maximum number of eggs required. The superintendent could stipulate the kinds and amounts of gear to be used, places they could be employed, and times fishing could be done. During the run of salmon each season, a deputy from the hatchery stationed at the bay saw that regulations were observed.

"Thus, commercial fishing took place in Yes Bay only under the supervision of the hatchery superintendent. When in his judgment the run exceeded the numbers required for hatchery purposes, commercial fishing was allowed. During the first few seasons not enough fish entered the lake, and a shortage of eggs occurred because the number of fish entering the lake could only be estimated by the apparent abundance in the bay and the stream. It became the practice to keep the bay closed.

"The Yes Bay hatchery operated eight more years after the traps were removed.

"The order for the closure of the hatchery arrived on July 23, 1933, about six weeks after a visit from a newly appointed Commissioner of Fisheries. All fry were liberated immediately, despite the fact that a serious epidemic of disease was in progress. The station was left that winter in the care of Vincent Boucher, the foreman. Then, in one month during the summer of 1934, a few men were able to dismantle the station, barge the equipment the length of the lake, haul it over the tramway and load it on ships. These same tasks in the reverse direction took many men a period of a quarter of a century to accomplish. The last entry in the station logbook dated September 24, 1934 was truly a death knell "This station is now closed and abandoned as far as the Bureau is concerned."

"Much of the property was shipped to the Bureau' s fur seal stations on the Pribiloff Islands. Hatchery equipment such as the new yellow cedar troughs were transferred to Clackamas, Oregon and to other Bureau hatcheries. Two hundred and forty such troughs had been newly constructed in 1930-31. It took Ketchikan Spruce Mills nearly three years to gather 250 planks, 16 inches wide by 16 to 18 feet long, dressed and free of knots.

"The remainder of the property: the tramway, pipeline, launch, scow, and boats, the donkey-house on the tramway, and all buildings, were turned over to the U.S. Forest Service which put in a Civilian Conservations Corps camp. The majority of the buildings were dismantled and the lumber taken to Ketchikan.

"There was one last detail. Franklin D. Roosevelt revoked the executive order reserving the land and water for a fish propagation site on May 31, 1935. The area was declared part of the Tongass National Forest.

"Patricia Roppert ended her book with an Epilogue. Some of her comments pertain to Yes Bay and Lake McDonald:

"Regional aquaculture associations, in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service, have been involved in a program to enhance sockeye runs through lake fertilization to provide more food for fry in the system - something considered at Afognak Lake in the 1930s. Studies to determine the value of fertilizing Lake McDonald (site of the former Yes Bay hatchery) are in progress. Other sockeye systems, where no past hatchery operated, are being considered throughout the state. It is too early to determine if lake fertilization will be a viable alternative to hatcheries for sockeye salmon enhancement.

"Political battles have continued during most legislative sessions since 1976 to refine the legislation permitting private non-profit aquaculture - a concept unique to Alaska. Regional associations and state agencies continue to be confronted with new, unforeseen problems brought about by this pioneer program. It remains to be seen whether this system of state and private non-profit hatcheries developed in the 1970s will be any more successful or have more longevity than the programs which were developed in the past."

Pat Roppel chose a quotation from my father for the title page of her book and in our recent e-mails she said:

"It was the best comment I heard in the time I researched the book. Mr. Kemmerich should have been proud to have said it. To me it is very insightful to the kind of professional he was."

She also told me:

"He was such a gentleman, so knowledgeable, and so helpful. Of all the people involved with the hatchery book, he was my absolute favorite."

The title page of Pat Roppel's book is at the beginning of this page, but the writing is too small to be easily read. Here is the quotation from my father:

"When all is said and done, and all criticisms on early hatchery procedures and techniques are made, it is true part of these were well founded, but in the main, we made those mistakes due to lack of experience. We were groping in the dark and it simply took time. They didn't send a man to the moon without tremendous research. In the same vein, given the knowledge we have now, scientific and practical, salmon hatcheries, particularly in Alaska where the natural environment hasn't been tampered with, should be highly successful."