The Place:
First known as "Forksdale", referring to the confluence of the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers, the present city was first surveyed in 1893, taking land from three large ranches which converged there. The sole industry at that time was cattle ranching but coal was soon discovered nearby, leading to coal mining's becoming an important secondary industry for a time.
The presence of the coal induced the Canadian Pacific Railway to extend its line to Forksdale. The name "Forksdale" was never popular with the locals and in 1906 it was changed to Merritt, in honour of William Hamilton Merritt III, a mining engineer and railway promoter. By 1907, with the completion of the railway and the coal mines in operation, Merritt quickly became the commercial and residential centre of the Nicola Valley. Though coal mining remained a viable industry in the area for a relatively short time, its place in the economics of the region was taken by forestry, which today has become the largest employer in the town.
The town grew quickly and on April 1, 1911 Merritt was granted its city charter. The next year, in 1912, Merritt had its first city hall, which also included police station, jail and fire hall. As the town grew it named its streets after its pioneering residents, names such as Charters, Chapman, Cleasby, Garcia, Voght, Coutlee, Nicola, Granite, and Quilchena. The present city hall is a relatively new building, but how long the city has occupied the premises we do not know.
Merritt has, in recent years, become a Mecca for country music, hosting annual music festivals. In connection with the festivals the city has created a
Walk of Stars in the downtown area and is home to the
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Alongside the Walk of Stars one will also find a series of murals of country music idols dating from the beginning of Country to the present.
The Person:
William Hamilton Merritt III was born on June 8, 1855 in St. Catharines, Upper Canada and studied in Ontario at Trinity College School and Upper Canada College, and at Clifton College and the Royal School of Mines in England. It was from the latter that he received his Associate of the Royal Society of Mines.
Merritt was a Canadian soldier, author, and mining engineer and for a time vice-president of the Ontario Mining Institute. As a soldier he attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel and served in the Northwest Rebellion and the Boer War. He also wrote a book entitled
Canada and National Service which advocated military conscription, as well as several articles and books on mining.
Merritt's association with the city of Merritt began with his prospecting for coal in the Nicola Valley. After having found it he organized the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Coal and Railway Company, bringing a railway into the valley to exploit the coal. The railway also provided easy entrance to the valley promoting settlement. The coal and the railway proved sufficiently valuable that the Canadian Pacific Railway eventually bought it.
Ultimately, though many people were important in the settlement and building of the city of Merritt, it was William Hamilton Merritt III whose input to the community had the greatest and most far reaching effect.
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