Merced Peak (11,726 ft.)
| Named by Wheeler Survey in 1878
|
Also River, County, Falls, Fork, Grove, Pass, Lake
"The name Nuestra Senora de la Merced was given to the river by an
expedition headed by gabriel Moraga on Sept. 29, 1806, five days after
the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy. Fremont speaks of Rio de la Merced in
his Expl. exp. (p.360), and Tuolumne River is labeled Rio de la
Merced on Preuss's map of 1845. The modern name seems to have come into
general use with the Gold Rush. ... Merced Peak is shown on Wheeler
atlas sheet 56-D. Merced Pass was discovered by Corporal
Ottoway in 1895 and named by Lt. H. C. Benson.
The lake above Little Yosemite Valley was discovered by John
Muir in 1872 and named Shadow Lake, but it has been
designated as Merced Lake by the BGN."
- Erwin Gudde, California Place Names
"The Clark Range was known as both the 'Obelisk Group'
and the 'Merced Group' at the time of the Whitney
Survey. (Whitney, The Yosemite Book, 1868, 97.) The present name
for the peak first appears on the Wheeler Survey atlas sheet 56D,
1878-79. The fork was named on the 15-minute quad, 1953."
- Peter Browning, Place Names of the Sierra Nevada
References to can also be found in these files:
More of Bob's Trip Reports
For more information see these SummitPost pages: Merced Peak
This page last updated: Sat Apr 7 17:02:15 2007
For corrections or comments, please send feedback to: snwbord@hotmail.com