Merced

Merced (mərsĕd`), city (1990 pop. 56,216), seat of Merced co., central Calif.; inc. 1889. It is a growing city and a center for tourism and farm trade in a cotton, fruit, and dairy region. Prefabricated wood buildings and metal products are the chief manufactures. Merced has a large concentration of Hmong immigrants. A campus of the Univ. of California is there, and Yosemite National Park is nearby.

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Merced 

a river in California (USA); a right tributary of the San Joaquin River. Length, approximately 180 km. Basin area, 3,300 sq km. It rises on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite National Park. In the upper course, the valley has steep slopes (elevation, to 1,500 m) and the river forms such waterfalls as Nevada Fall (height, 178 m) and Vernal Fall (height, 95 m). In the lower course the Merced flows out onto the Central Valley. It is fed primarily by snow. The mean flow rate at the point where the Merced flows out of Lake McLure is 38 cu m per sec. Because the river is used for irrigation, the mean flow rate at the mouth is 21 cu m per sec.