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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Rabalais says he remembers being taught in high school that one day, these would be built:
(a) Ships to travel faster along rivers.
(b) Lighter and sturdier barges.
(c) Skyscrapers along the river banks.
(d) Structures to control water flows.

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

3. The author mentions that when he met Rabalais, he wore what in his pocket?
(a) Checkered bandana.
(b) Gold pocket watch.
(c) Silver pocket watch.
(d) Red bandana.

4. The author states that how much of New Orleans lies fifteen feet below sea level?
(a) Ten percent.
(b) Half.
(c) One quarter.
(d) All of it.

5. A snagboat is a river boat that does what?
(a) Removes obstructions from rivers.
(b) Carries large logs to sawmills.
(c) Pulls barges through turbulent water.
(d) Transports workers from one town to another.

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

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

8. After the U.S. Army Corps takes control of the Atchafalaya, Old Cajun bayou life is:
(a) Enriched.
(b) Renewed.
(c) Diminished.
(d) Lost.

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

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

11. While aboard the Mississippi on his annual trip, General Sands tries to:
(a) Generate new contracts.
(b) Capture poachers.
(c) Settle differences.
(d) Fine environmentalists.

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

13. Norris F. Rabalais was born and raised in what Louisiana parish?
(a) West Feliciana.
(b) Evangeline.
(c) Avoyelles.
(d) Concordia.

14. Every thousand years or so, the Mississippi River goes through a major shift that leaves behind what?
(a) Large, deep saltwater lakes.
(b) Bayous and natural levees.
(c) Stranded bird colonies.
(d) Dry mudflats.

15. Congress mandates that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey the Mississippi and tributaries in order to assure and improve what?
(a) Farmland irrigation.
(b) Water rights.
(c) Inland navigation.
(d) Aquatic recreation.

Short Answer Questions

1. Initially, Rabalais is hired as a construction inspector to watch for what at the navigation lock?

2. A towboat is designed to:

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

4. From St. Louis down to the Atchafalaya, General Sands takes note of what?

5. This book is a:

(see the answer keys)

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