Merritt, British Columbia
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Merritt, British Columbia (Latitude:50.113987 Longitude:-120.79147) is located in the historic Nicola Valley in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. Its total land area is 3614.44 square kilometers. Its elevation is 595 meters (1,950 ft.). It was given a charter in 1911 and a city hall was built a year later. Originally named Forks, or Forksvale, it was originally settled by William Henry Voght in 1872, after being used as a transportation route by early pioneers. The first industries were coal and farming.
Merritt is composed of five distinct residential areas: Bench, Collettville, Central, Diamondville, and Lower Nicola. The Bench is a residential mountain bench, hence the name, sitting the north west side of the valley. Collettville is the newest addition to Merritt, previously identified as part of the Collett Ranch. Central is situated on the south end of the city centre. Diamondville is in the heart of the valley, and is the most populated. Lower Nicola is outside of the city of Merritt, but most residents are serviced by the city. Each of these areas seem to be derived from the presence of a local elementary school: Bench Elementary, Collettville Elementary (Now, mostly a French immersion school), Central Elementary, Diamondville Elementary, and finally Nicola-Canford Elementary. Also, a high school, Merritt Secondary, and a middle school, Coquihalla Middle School, service the area.
Today, ranching, farming, forestry and transportation/tourism are the primary industries. Merritt is the centre of the Douglas Lake ranch, Canada's largest working cattle ranch. A number of lumber mills operate from Merritt, though recent efforts have been made to remove working mills from the downtown core due to air quality concerns. Merritt hosts a yearly Merritt Mountain Music Festival, and touts itself as the Country Music Capital of Canada. It is the centre of three branches of the Coquihalla Highways.
In 1995, Merritt's air quality was rated worst in British Columbia due to fine particulate matter in the air, thought to be caused by a combination of dry desert conditions, active lumber mills in populated areas especially using a beehive burner, and a long-burning coal seam underneath the town. In 1997 studies showed that on average, 35 out of a 1,000 people are hospitalized for respiratory problems each year in Merritt.pt:Merritt (Colúmbia Britânica)