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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. By 1812, the east bank of the Mississippi River is levied up to which city?
(a) Shreveport.
(b) Lake Charles.
(c) Alexandria.
(d) Baton Rouge.

2. During the fifty years between New Orleans' floods of 1735 and 1785, what does the author say brings a false sense of security against flooding?
(a) Prosperous economic boom.
(b) Drought conditions.
(c) Extended, raised levees.
(d) Concrete seawalls.

3. What are residents of French Acadia called?
(a) Francadians.
(b) Mississipiuns.
(c) Arcadians.
(d) Cajuns.

4. In the mid-1800s, the United States Congress passes a Swamp and Overflow Land Act to:
(a) Deed swampland to individual states.
(b) Evict land squatters.
(c) Create a new water control system.
(d) Take away ownership rights.

5. During high spring waters, what danger forms unseen beneath turbulent waters at the outflow to the Atchafalaya?
(a) Treacherous new rip currents.
(b) A crack in a gate of the control structure.
(c) The partial collapse of one of the pylons.
(d) An enormous hole larger and deeper than a football stadium.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a weir?

2. In the 1800s, swamps in Louisiana are drained and used as what?

3. What does the 1927 flood in Louisiana teach officials about levees?

4. At one point, Rabalais drives the author first to the Mississippi River and then to the Atchafalaya River, showing him that the Mississippi is 18 feet above sea level while the Atchafalaya is how many feet above sea level?

5. Congress mandates that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey the Mississippi and tributaries in order to assure and improve what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is James B. Eads' contribution to the Mississippi River?

2. Explain how the Mississippi River forms Louisiana over many centuries.

3. What is the Old River Control project developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?

4. Who is Henry Shreve, and what does he do?

5. In 1927, what happened to the region of the Mississippi River during the great flood?

6. Explain what the author says about Old Cajun bayou life in the Atchafalaya region after the Corps took control.

7. In the 1700s, why did people settle in New Orleans and surrounding areas despite the region clearly being a floodplain?

8. What is the goal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with regards to the Atchafalya and Mississippi rivers?

9. What are some of the predominant problems in the regions populated near the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers?

10. Why does the author state that ever since the Corps took control of the Atchafalaya, the river's name means "collision" to him?

(see the answer keys)

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