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De Beque, Colorado

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the De Beque census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81630. It stands on Horsethief Creek. The Survey maps it on the De Beque quadrangle. 493 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,951 feet above sea level.

De Beque within Mesa County

On record in De Beque

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

De Beque fell from 504 to 493 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010504
2020493-11 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

195 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 195 fires within 5 miles of De Beque between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,009 acres in total. 118 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural118
Missing data/not specified/undetermined54
Smoking8
Equipment and vehicle use7
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Debris and open burning2
Recreation and ceremony1
Arson/incendiarism1
Other causes1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersDEBEQUE
7 September 1993Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionSMITH GLCH
6 September 2007Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionLOGAN
5 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.1 acresDeBeque Volunteer Fire DepartmentN/A
4 September 2020Other causes3.1 acresMesa CountyDEBEQUE
27 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
24 September 1996Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionHIGHWAY 6
17 September 2009Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionTRAIL

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mesa County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of De Beque: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Nichols PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Mesa County

Storms near this place

16 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names De Beque in 16 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 3 flood, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2011FloodDe Beque$125,000Many area waterways in Western Colorado, including the Colorado River, were running at or near bank full conditions to begin June as runoff was enhanced by warming temperatures over a record snow pack. Flood advisories for the Colorado River were in place all of June across Mesa County from near De Beque to the Utah state line. Flood warnings were first issued near Cameo on June 5th, and except for a brief lowering below the flood stagt from the 19th to the 23rd, the warning stayed in place through the end of the month. Minor flooding and bank erosion were experienced from De Beque to the confluence with the Gunnison River in Grand Junction. Some city recreational trails along the river washed away. Within River Bend State Park near Palisade a service road eroded away and part of the disk golf course was washed away. In some areas up to 20 feet of bank was lost to the river and a few homes in Grand Junction and Palisade reported water in the basement from the high water table. ||The Colorado River, from the confluence with the Gunnison River in Grand Junction to the Utah State line was in flood stage from June 7th to June 11th, peaking on the 8th. In numerous places the river flooded low lying areas and approached Interstate 70. The water came within a few inches of closing the I-70 bridge near Skippers Island. A few sections of the river between Fruita and Loma lost between 20 to 30 feet of bank and some utilities were washed out. Multiple agencies and businesses worked to mitigate the flooding problems.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindDe Beque$100,000no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindDe Beque$15,000no account filed
August 2023FloodDe Beque-Heavy rain from thunderstorms resulted in minor flooding/ponding of water on portions of I-70 near mile marker 56 going east towards De Beque.
May 2020HailDe Beque-A severe thunderstorm produced large hail estimated to be the size of quarters south-southeast of De Beque. Dispatch reported numerous vehicles had to shelter under the highway overpass due to the large hail on Interstate 70 south of De Beque with resulting slowdowns on the highway.
May 2020HailDe Beque-A severe thunderstorm produced large hail measured to be the size of half dollars south-southeast of De Beque.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindDe Beque-A peak wind gust of 99 mph was measured by the Great Divide automated weather station.
July 2016Heavy RainDe Beque-Showers and thunderstorms produced torrential rainfall near De Beque, with 1.06 inches measured at one location within three hours. The heavy rain quickly filled up nearby ditches with water.
September 2013Flash FloodDe Beque-Mudslides and flooding closed westbound I-70 from near DeBeque to mile marker 70 for several hours.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindDe Beque-Thunderstorms moving near the Interstate 70 corridor above DeBeque Canyon produced severe wind gusts.
July 2011FloodDe Beque-Flood warnings were in effect for the main stem Colorado River from near DeBeque to Grand Junction on the 1st of July when the river peaked at 13.41 feet. The river then began a slow descent through the remainder of the month, though it fluctuated to advisory levels through July 11th. Minor flooding and bank erosion along the river from DeBeque to the Colorado-Utah state line continued through the first part of the month due to the fast flows and near bankfull conditions.
July 2007Heavy RainDe Beque-Heavy rain producing thunderstorms resulted in 2 to 3 inches of water to flow over County Road 45.5 at Shire Gulch.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindDe Beque-no account filed
August 2005HailDe Beque-no account filed
June 1999WildfireDe Beque-no account filed
September 1997Funnel CloudDe Beque-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mesa County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Akin6.1 miles15
Mesa12.3 miles16
Molina13.0 miles15
Cameo14.0 miles16
Plateau City14.1 miles13
John Held Corner14.3 miles16
Collbran14.9 miles13
Palisade17.1 miles15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on De BequeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2415964The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 174334. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.