Michael S. Muransky died while aiding in an attempt to rescue Edward L. Mason following an avalanche, Ouray, Colorado, February 14, 1958. While Mason, 44, assistant mine foreman, was making his way to a mining camp through snow on a road in a mountain canyon, an avalanche occurred, burying him in a bank of snow 20 feet deep that covered the road for 500 feet. Another man some distance behind him was caught at the edge of the avalanche but succeeded in digging himself out. He made his way to the camp a mile and a half away and summoned help. Despite the threat of a four-month accumulation of snow in dangerous slide areas on the mountains, Muransky, 53, miner, and two other men began clearing the road to the snow bank, Muransky using a probing pole to determine depths as the other men operated bulldozers. Nearly three hours later, one of the bulldozers ceased to function within 600 feet of the snow bank. As the three men discussed further action, a second and larger avalanche began at the mountain crest 2,800 feet above them. Muransky and the two other men ran along the road in an effort to escape the snow surging swiftly down the mountainside, but all were buried in a snow bank as much as 30 feet deep covering the road for 1,500 feet. Rescue parties recovered their bodies six days later. Mason’s body was located the next day.
44368 – 4202
44368-4202Obituary
Michael S. Muransky, 53, of Ouray, Colo., was engulfed in a snowslide near the Camp Bird Mine, southwest of Ouray, on Feb. 14, 1958, as he prepared to search for another snowslide victim.
He was born on Sept. 30, 1904, in Scranton, Pa. Muransky had been employed at the Camp Bird Mine; he moved to Ouray in 1945. He was a member of St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church.
Burial was in Cedar Cemetery in Ouray.
(Edited from an obituary in The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colo., Feb. 21, 1958.)