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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Maclean write what he called his "fire report?"
(a) To enlarge his knowledge and accompany the men whose lives he might have lived.
(b) To appease Robinson, Laird, Sallee and Rumsey.
(c) To find the answer to the mystery of the fire.
(d) To prove to Henry Thol, Sr. that the death of his son was no one's fault.

2. What did thinking about the struggle for oxygen that the Smokejumpers' experienced remind the author of?
(a) The birth experience.
(b) The death of Hellman.
(c) The death of his wife.
(d) The importance of fire safety.

3. What did Maclean believe the atomic mushroom to be a symbol of in the 20th century?
(a) A symbol of our inner fear of the explosive power of the universe.
(b) A symbol of everything wrong with governmental agencies such as the Forest Service.
(c) A symbol of the future of science.
(d) A symbol of American supremacy in firefighting.

4. Where did Maclean finally locate Walter Rumsey?
(a) In Chicago, Illinois.
(b) In Seattle, Washington.
(c) In Lincoln, Nebraska.
(d) In Boise, Idaho.

5. What began to happen at Mann Gulch forty years later?
(a) Small bushes had replaced scarred land along the hillside.
(b) Small trees had begun to grow along the gulches on the hillside.
(c) Small brush fires had begun to erupt along the ridge.
(d) Small animals had begun to return to the hillside.

6. When Sallee and Rumsey reached Hellman's cross, what did they both say to Laird and Maclean?
(a) They wanted to rest before seeing Mann Gulch.
(b) They did not want to see Mann Gulch.
(c) Someone had moved the markers of some of the men.
(d) Hellman's cross was not in the correct place.

7. When did Wag Dodge die?
(a) 1945.
(b) 1975.
(c) 1955.
(d) 1965.

8. What does the sculpture at the University of Chicago commemorating the Atomic Age look like?
(a) Both a skull and a womb.
(b) Both a womb and a mushroom.
(c) Both a mushroom and a planet.
(d) Both a mushroom and a skull.

9. Who was Elmer Bloom?
(a) The Forest Service photographer.
(b) The announcer.
(c) The movie director.
(d) The movie producer.

10. Where did Bob Moore and Maclean discover they had both worked in their youths?
(a) Lochsa where the Missouri River enters the Gates of the Mountain.
(b) Lochsa where the Fish Creek fire took place.
(c) Lochsa where Moore was born.
(d) Lochsa where Lewis and Clark nearly starved to death.

11. To what does a woodsman look for both the questions and their answers?
(a) The trees.
(b) The ground.
(c) The grasses.
(d) The sky.

12. Where did Maclean first go in the hopes of finding Robert Sallee?
(a) The University of Montana-Butte.
(b) A sawmill in Portland.
(c) The personnel office of the Bank of America.
(d) A paper mill near Missoula.

13. What did Maclean call the "North Star that guides all arguments?"
(a) Hellman's cross.
(b) The top of the ridge.
(c) The location of Dodge's fire.
(d) The crevice in the ridge.

14. What were the emotions governing the Mann Gulch tragedy since it was first analyzed?
(a) Fear and longing.
(b) Fear and disgust.
(c) Fear and pity.
(d) Fear and anger.

15. What observation did Jansson and the doctor at the scene make about the final steps of the men who died on the hill?
(a) They fell and got up many times before dying.
(b) They were dead before they fell to the ground.
(c) They fell, then rose and took a few steps, then fell again.
(d) They fell and were instantly devoured by the fire.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the end of his life, what did Maclean consider the ultimate drive of the human spirit?

2. What effect did Dodge's escape fire have on the Mann Gulch fire, according to Maclean?

3. How did Maclean compare the death of his wife and the death of the Smokejumpers?

4. When on the ridge in Mann Gulch, what did Maclean witness Sallee and Rumsey argue about?

5. What common portrayal of death did Maclean believe did not occur for the Smokejumpers?

(see the answer keys)

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