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

2. On General Sand's floating conference boat, Oliver Houck is the only board member who is active in what?
(a) Cancelling the Old River project.
(b) Environmental movement.
(c) Local political life.
(d) Taking the census.

3. 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.

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

5. This book is a:
(a) Traditional history textbook.
(b) Historical nonfiction novel.
(c) Traditional science textbook.
(d) Science fiction novel.

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

3. In feet, how long is the towboat Mississippi?

4. A navigation lock on the bank of the Mississippi River lowers ships down to where?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What are some of the predominant problems in the regions populated near the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers?

3. Explain who thinks the Old River Control project is an arrogant enterprise, and why they think this.

4. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, what did people in southern Louisiana do to protect their communities and land against floods?

5. Name some of the companies and industries that are attracted to the regions in and around Baton Rouge and New Orleans as these communities develop.

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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