Editing De Beque, Colorado (section)

==History==
The town is located in a region historically occupied by the [[Ute people]].<ref name="History">{{cite web|url=http://www.debeque.org/history.html|title=History|publisher=Town of De Beque, Colorado|accessdate=July 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728115819/http://www.debeque.org/history.html|archive-date=July 28, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> settlers arrived in the region in 1880.<ref name="History"/>

The town is named after Dr. W.A.E. de Beque<ref>{{cite book|last=Dawson|first=John Frank|title=Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015051116740;view=1up;seq=23|publisher=The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co.|location=Denver, CO|page=17}}</ref> who explored the area with several companions in 1884 while looking for a suitable location for a ranch.

The town was historically a location where [[wild horse]]s, prevalent in the surrounding lands, were rounded up and sold.<ref name="The Wild Horses of Ute Country">{{cite web| url= http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1339&Itemid=118|title=The Wild Horses of Ute Country
|publisher=News From Indian Country|accessdate=July 9, 2012}}</ref> The history of the town is commemorated with a [[Mustang horse|mustang]] statue near the town hall. In August 2001, the Town Board of Trustees designated De Beque as the only Wild Horse Sanctuary City in the West.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.debeque.org/horsedays.html |title= DE BEQUE WILD HORSE DAYS |publisher= Town of De Beque, Colorado |accessdate= July 25, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111026072819/http://www.debeque.org/horsedays.html |archive-date= October 26, 2011 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The town now undertakes projects in cooperation with the [[Bureau of Land Management]], as well as private organizations, to protect the remaining wild horses in the area. There are no burros in western Colorado. Such measures include the construction of a public corral for the care of injured and sick mustangs awaiting adoption.<ref name="The Wild Horses of Ute Country"/>

On April 1, 2014, De Beque became the first incorporated town in Mesa County to approve the retail sale of recreational marijuana.<ref>The Daily Sentinel, Tuesday, April 1 [http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/de-beque-approves8232-retail-pot-fruita-8232declin/ De Beque approves retail pot; Fruita declines]</ref>