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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. From St. Louis down to the Atchafalaya, General Sands takes note of what?
(a) Complaints.
(b) Number of private boats.
(c) Storms.
(d) Number of bird colonies.

2. A navigation lock on the bank of the Mississippi River lowers ships down to where?
(a) Atchafalaya River.
(b) Gulf of Mexico.
(c) Atlantic Ocean.
(d) Red River.

3. The Old River Control began its operations in what year?
(a) 1931.
(b) 1963.
(c) 1917.
(d) 1988.

4. When was the Kent, a small towboat used by the U.S. Army Corps, put into service?
(a) 1952.
(b) 1964.
(c) 1989.
(d) 1973.

5. Atchafalaya is a what?
(a) City.
(b) Waterfall.
(c) Mountain.
(d) River.

6. What river does the author mention that connects the Atchafalaya and the Mississippi to form an H?
(a) Red River.
(b) Black River.
(c) New River.
(d) Old River.

7. What is commonly fished from the bayou regions around the Atchafalaya?
(a) Trout.
(b) Salmon.
(c) Lobster.
(d) Crawfish.

8. Henry Shreve changes the Mississippi River by introducing what?
(a) Vegetation native to Mexico.
(b) Mississippi steamboat.
(c) New fish breeds.
(d) Gambling along the river.

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

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

11. 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) No other organization has authority to control Louisiana's rivers.
(b) The Corps keeps the region safe against criminals.
(c) This is the only organization that has ever succeeded in maintaining order in New Orleans.
(d) The Corps is keeping his neighborhood safe from nine feet of water.

12. In feet, how long is the towboat Mississippi?
(a) 23.
(b) 459.
(c) 217.
(d) 42.

13. Initially, Rabalais is hired as a construction inspector to watch for what at the navigation lock?
(a) Trapped seals.
(b) Oversized ships.
(c) Illegal drug shipments.
(d) Escaping water.

14. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers develops a plan to do what?
(a) Control natural shifts of the Mississippi River.
(b) Build twenty large dams on the Atchafalaya River.
(c) Protect the fish population of the Atchfalaya River.
(d) Develop communities along the Mississippi River.

15. In 1928, Congress enacts the Flood Control Act to start what?
(a) Atchafalaya River and Levees Project.
(b) Old and New Rivers Effort.
(c) Rivers, Tributaries, and Levees Effort.
(d) Mississippi River and Tributaries Project.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. Sympathetically, who does McPhee blame for destructive actions against the natural order of the environment?

3. In the mid-1800s, the United States Congress passes a Swamp and Overflow Land Act to:

4. This book is a:

5. When the author recalls his first time in the Atchafalaya swamps with Charles Fryling in 1980, what does he fondly remember?

(see the answer keys)

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