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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what year was the Boulder Dam authorized and the All-American Canal on the condition that at least six of the seven states ratify the compact?
(a) 1917.
(b) 1936.
(c) 1928.
(d) 1945.

2. How much of the water in California is used for irrigation purposes, according to the author?
(a) 80%.
(b) 65%.
(c) 25%.
(d) 40%.

3. According to the author in Chapter Two, “the most persecuted among the virtuous in nineteenth-century America were, besides peaceful Indians and runaway slaves and Mennonites and Quakers, the members of” what faith?
(a) The Christian Science faith.
(b) The Jewish faith.
(c) The Muslim faith.
(d) The Mormon faith.

4. In 1848, what was the population of San Francisco?
(a) 800.
(b) 2,500.
(c) 4,500.
(d) 9,000.

5. When did Francisco Vásquez de Coronado set out on horseback from Mexico with a couple of hundred men, driving into the uncharted North, according to the author in Chapter One?
(a) 1297.
(b) 1362.
(c) 1474.
(d) 1539.

6. According to the author in Chapter Three, regarding the Bureau of Reclamation, “The most auspicious event in its entire history was the election to the presidency in 1932 of a freewheeling, free-spending” what?
(a) Democrat.
(b) Libertarian.
(c) Patrician.
(d) Republican.

7. Almost all of the rain in Napa Valley falls between which months?
(a) August to December.
(b) March to July.
(c) May to September.
(d) November to March.

8. The Grand Coulee is an ancient riverbed in what U.S. state?
(a) Montana.
(b) Washington.
(c) Arizona.
(d) Colorado.

9. What was the population of Los Angeles when Harrison Gray Otis moved there?
(a) 12,500.
(b) 5,000.
(c) 29,000.
(d) 22,000.

10. When was Marc Reisner born?
(a) 1948.
(b) 1934.
(c) 1955.
(d) 1963.

11. What is one of the four major prehistoric archaeological Oasisamerica traditions of what is now the American Southwest which the author describes in Chapter One?
(a) Brenula.
(b) Bahmona.
(c) Hohokam.
(d) Trincala.

12. In what year did Marc Reisner die?
(a) 1992.
(b) 2007.
(c) 2000.
(d) 1977.

13. Which states are touched by the Colorado River?
(a) Idaho, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado.
(b) New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.
(c) Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
(d) Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

14. What is the name given to the principal hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds which drain into the Pacific Ocean?
(a) The Canadian Spur.
(b) The Rocky Mountains.
(c) The American Ridge.
(d) The Continental Divide.

15. In 1930, the American West had a population of how many people?
(a) 18 million.
(b) 4 million.
(c) 11 million.
(d) 7 million.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the author in the Introduction, “Fifty-six years after the first earth was turned beside City Creek, the Mormons had” how many “acres under full or partial irrigation in several states”?

2. Who did Charles Rockwood convince to join forces with him in irrigation, according to the author in Chapter Four?

3. What western city does the author describe “with exotic palms and golf-course lawns and a five-hundred-foot fountain and an artificial surf” in the Introduction?

4. What region is located in southeastern Southern California, and is the site of an urban area largely centered on the city of El Centro?

5. A letter is quoted in Chapter One from Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to whom?

(see the answer keys)

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