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

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

3. Throughout the book, a predominant theme is that the following gets in the way of man's plans:
(a) The economy.
(b) Environmental Protection Agency.
(c) Machinery.
(d) Nature.

4. In the early days of New Orleans, residents build their homes on what?
(a) Metal bridges.
(b) Natural levees.
(c) Sand piles.
(d) Concrete risers.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When floodwaters cover twenty-six thousand square miles in 1927, how is New Orleans saved?

2. Rabalais says he remembers being taught in high school that one day, these would be built:

3. 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?

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

5. The author retells the time when Raphael G. Kazmann walks out onto the five hundred and sixty-six foot structure over the Old River but leaves quickly because:

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. In the 1700s, why did people settle in New Orleans and surrounding areas despite the region clearly being a floodplain?

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

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

8. Describe Major General Thomas Sands' annual Low Water Inspection Trip along the Mississippi River.

9. What is James B. Eads' contribution to the Mississippi River?

10. In 1927, what happened to the region of the Mississippi River during the great flood?

(see the answer keys)

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