Margaret Mary Balder
Courtesy of LoisMarie O'Konek
from the Okonek-Kampa archives
| Parents: Marriage: |
August "Gust" Balder Maria "Mary" Kampa William R. Blades |
|
| Children: | Rose Mary Irene | Sept. 26, 1929 | † Feb. 26, 1932 |
| Josephine Elizabeth | Aug. 13, 1931 | † Feb. 26, 1932 |
| Notes: | On Sept. 23, 1910 Margaret was 3 years old and living with her parents, brother Ervin (age 7) and her father's three children from his first marriage: Millie (24 years), Fred |
| (22 years), and Emil (21 years). Margaret's father Gust
worked as the Section Foreman for the Clear Lake Station of the Northern Pacific Railway Company until he resigned with satisfactory service on Oct. 17, 1910. His employment application described him
as 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing 160 lbs. with blue eyes and dark hair.
On March 1, 1920 Margaret was 13 years old and living in a rented home with her parents and brothers Ervin (age 17) and Joseph (age 1 year, 2 months) in Riverdale Village, Irondale Township, Crow Wing, Minnesota. Her father was working as a blacksmith for Iron Mine. Margaret was attending school at the time, however her brother Ervin wasn't. At the time of the Apr. 17, 1930 federal census, Margaret was 21 years old and living with her 45-year-old husband, W. R. Blades, and their 6-month-old daughter, R. M., in the home they rented for $10/month located at Snoqualimie Falls, Warren, King, Washington. Her husband was working as a high rigger in a lumber mill. The family did not own a radio. On February 26, 1932 water was running heavily on the roads in north central Washington, but they were all open except Blewett Pass. Rain fell steadily in Wenatchee all morning. Severe flood conditions were forecast in Snohomish county, north of Seattle. The Sultan river, tributary of the Skykomish, rose six feet in eight hours the previous day and was steadily approaching flood stage. The Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers were also rising. Rains were continuing and the higher temperatures melted much snow on the lower levels of the Cascade foothills. The Washington State Highway Patrol reported that the flood damage was the most serious in years. Despite the heavy rain of the previous two days, Seattle still lacked two inches of normal rainfall from January 1 to that date, due to a number of clear, dry days. Unbeknownst to local residents at the time, logging debris began to clog a culvert installed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway during the construction of a bridge beneath a 175-foot berm over Boetzke Creek designed to carry runoff from the mountainside through to Boxley Creek. The growing obstruction created an artificial dam that would burst under enormous water pressure from the torrential rain and snowmelt. It was under these conditions that a torrent of icy water and debris-filled mud swept away part of the little community of Edgewick crushing to death Margaret, along with her mother Mary, Margaret's two young daughters, and three neighbors in a snowslide that engulfed their homes at Edgewick, King, Washington. She was found dead with her two infant daughters among the logging debris hundreds of yards down Boxley Creek. It took a week before the remains of her mother were located and retrieved. Margaret was 24 years old. It was determined by the King County coronor's inquest that these deaths were a result of extraordinary events. The King County Sheriff's investigation uncovered negligence in construction of a culvert by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway (The Milwaukee Road), and as a result the Edgewicke residents filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against the railway for damages. A universal settlement totalling $35,000 was reached on Nov. 3rd and from that William Blades received $7,500 for the loss of his wife and their two little daughters. |
| Ancestry: | The Balder Line |
| The Johann "Hans" Kempa Line | |
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