Joseph "Joe" Kemmerich was born on 14 October 1886. He was the son of August Kemmerich, who was one of the early pioneers in Birdsview, Skagit County, WA. Joe graduated from the local high school and went to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By 1919 Kemmerich had been the foreman at the federal government's Baker Lake fishery. In July 1919 the Supervisor was going to be on a tour of inspections that would require at least two months of travel. Kemmerich was promoted to supervisor of Birdsview and Baker Lake hatcheries during his absence. In 1922 Kemmerich was made the superintendent of the Birdsview Hatchery where he remained for a number of years. In 1923 Kemmerich married Eula Haynes, who had been previously married. In May 1939 he was sent to the Rock Island Dam in Wenatchee, WA for a few weeks to where he was in charge of the operation. By 1945 he was a District Supervisor for the United States Dept. of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service when he retired from the Service. Before he retired, he was asked to write a report about the history of the sockeye salmon operations in the Puget Sound, WA area between 1896 and 1945. The report was titled: A Review of the Artificial Propagation and Tranplantation of the Sockeye Salmon of the Puget Sound Area in the State of Washington Conducted by the Federal Government from 1896-1945. Kemmerich retired from his service with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in December 1945. In March 1951 Kemmerich submitted an article titled History of the Baker Lake Fish Hatchery to the Concrete Herald for publication. It is unclear whether it was published or not. In 1962 Joe Kemmerich passed away.
From the description of Joe Kemmerich's manuscript collection, 1945-1951. (Washington State Library, Office of Secretary of State). WorldCat record id: 301608821
