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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. 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?
(a) One.
(b) Nineteen.
(c) Five.
(d) Twenty-five.

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

5. 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) Control.
(b) Collision.
(c) Cooperation.
(d) Confusion.

Short Answer Questions

1. In 1973, what happens to the Old River Control structure despite engineers drilling it and filling it with cement?

2. The livelihood of approximately how many people is affected by the Old River Control?

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

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Congress enacts the Flood Control Act in 1928 to launch the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project. What is done through this project?

2. What are some of the main points the author tries to make through this work of historical nonfiction?

3. Describe what McPhee writes about Morgan City, Louisiana.

4. Explain what the author says about Old Cajun bayou life in the Atchafalaya region after the Corps took control.

5. Who is Henry Shreve, and what does he do?

6. Explain how the Mississippi River forms Louisiana over many centuries.

7. The Old River Control project began operating in 1963. What happens ten years later?

8. What is the goal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with regards to the Atchafalya and Mississippi rivers?

9. Describe some of the challenges New Orleans faces because of its geographical location.

10. Why does the author state that ever since the Corps took control of the Atchafalaya, the river's name means "collision" to him?

(see the answer keys)

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