1. When floodwaters cover twenty-six thousand square miles in 1927, how is New Orleans saved?
(a) Building concrete walls around the city.
(b) Blowing up a downstream levee.
(c) Quickly digging a diversion channel.
(d) Layering sandbags along the riverbanks.

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

3. The author tells stories of the following people in conflict with forces of nature:
(a) Government officials.
(b) Residents.
(c) All of the them.
(d) Engineers.

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

5. In a conversation between General Sands and Oliver Houck on a floating conference boat, what does the General remind Houck regarding the vital role of the U.S. Army Corps?
(a) The Corps is keeping his neighborhood safe from nine feet of water.
(b) This is the only organization that has ever succeeded in maintaining order in New Orleans.
(c) The Corps keeps the region safe against criminals.
(d) No other organization has authority to control Louisiana's rivers.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the spring of 1973, what does the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers do to try to alleviate the tremendous force of water against the control structure?

2. The author mentions that when he met Rabalais, he wore what in his pocket?

3. Norris F. Rabalais was born and raised in what Louisiana parish?

4. Henry Shreve changes the Mississippi River by introducing what?

5. What does James B. Eads invent to explore the Mississippi River?

(see the answer key)

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