About

De Beque could be called the "Oil Shale Town of Mesa County," although ranching has provided a more stable economy for the community. The town, incorporated in 1890, is at the mouth of Roan Creek. 

Robert Eaton, L.T. Stewart, and George Gibson filed homesteads and water rights claims on Roan Creek in 1882. J.C. Crotty and John Larkin established claims in the Bluestone area on the south side of the Colorado River; the Bluestone area was later developed by Judge Joseph E. Ong. 

In 1884 Dr. Wallace A.E. de Beque and three companions, Fred Webster, John Bouldin, and Dick Smith, traveled over the Bookcliffs to the head of present-day De Beque Canyon. There Dr. de Beque staked a homestead named Ravensbeque. The doctor brought his wife, Marie Bonholzer, to his log cabin -- and in 1885 the area's first post office opened in their home. 

Dr. de Beque moved to the present site of De Beque in 1886 and built a log cabin. He later constructed a house for his son, Armand. The post office was also moved and became De Beque in 1888. De Beque had cement sidewalks in 1907, a water system in 1912, and movies in 1916. 

The Kimball brothers drove the first large herd, 500 head, into the area in 1883, but sheep were not welcome. The largest slaughter of sheep in the local sheep and cattle war reportedly took place on Clear Creek when 4,000 sheep were cudgeled or driven over cliffs. 

The railroad arrived from the east in 1890, and De Beque prospered. For a time in 1918, 1919, and 1920, more cattle were shipped through De Beque than any other place in Colorado. The town boomed with the railroad and declined when the stockyards closed. 

A large stone school was built in 1892. Dr. de Beque climbed inside the belfry at the dedication and raised the American flag, the first one flown over a public building in De Beque. Grades one through eight were taught in the first years of the school. One high school grade was added each year starting in 1908; the first class graduated in 1012 with two seniors receiving diplomas. 

After settlement, hunters from all over the nation ebgan coming to the area, which became known for wild mountain lions, deer, bobcats, coyotes, and bear. A mountain lion hunt was an annual affair for several years, and a game reserve was built in the 1890s. 

Boom and bust has played a major role in De Beque history, due chiefly to oil shale. Although oil was discovered in 1902, nothing was done with the seventeen wells discovered. The first shale boom occurred in the early 1920s with repeat booms at twenty-year intervals in the 1940s, 1960s, and late 1970s-80s. The areas's first distillation plant was built in 1917 on Dry Fork, a tributary of Roan Creek. 

Excerpted from McCreanor, Emma. 2002. Mesa County Colorado a 100 Year History  Updated and Expanded with Timeline through 2002. Grand Junction Colorado: Museum of Western Colorado Press.

Related people

Armand De Beque [1912 - 1998]
Wallace A.E. de Beque [1841 - 1930]
Joseph E. Ong [1845-1911]

Related place

Mesa County

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