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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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.

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

4. What is the author's role in this book?
(a) Investigative reporter.
(b) Trained scientist.
(c) Influential politician.
(d) Passive observer.

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

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

7. What does James B. Eads invent to explore the Mississippi River?
(a) Underwater camera.
(b) Submarine.
(c) Glass-bottom boat.
(d) Water telescope.

8. What does the 1927 flood in Louisiana teach officials about levees?
(a) They make the flooding problem worse.
(b) More need to be constructed faster.
(c) They need to be built taller.
(d) They work beautifully.

9. From the time that the U.S. Army Corps takes control of the Atchafalaya, what word does the author associate with the river and the region?
(a) Confusion.
(b) Collision.
(c) Control.
(d) Cooperation.

10. A towboat is designed to:
(a) Pull large cargo ships.
(b) Push large cargo ships.
(c) Pull barges.
(d) Push barges.

11. Over a number of centuries, how does the Mississippi River form the state of Louisiana?
(a) By creating all of the state's boundaries.
(b) By overflowing river banks.
(c) By irrigating carefully cultivated fields.
(d) By cutting deep, rocky canyons into the land.

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

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

14. When the author recalls his first time in the Atchafalaya swamps with Charles Fryling in 1980, what does he fondly remember?
(a) Seeing lightning bugs for the first time.
(b) Floating among trees under silently flying birds.
(c) The water rushing through locks and gates.
(d) His first encounter with a baby alligator.

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

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. After the U.S. Army Corps takes control of the Atchafalaya, Old Cajun bayou life is:

3. Of the Old River Control Project, LeRoy Dugas, also known as Dugie, is what initially?

4. What river does the author mention that connects the Atchafalaya and the Mississippi to form an H?

5. Throughout the book, a predominant theme is that the following gets in the way of man's plans:

(see the answer keys)

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