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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. The livelihood of approximately how many people is affected by the Old River Control?
(a) 3 million.
(b) 31 thousand.
(c) 13 hundred.
(d) 3 thousand.

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

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

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

5. 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) Local political life.
(c) Environmental movement.
(d) Taking the census.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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?

4. Atchafalaya is a what?

5. A snagboat is a river boat that does what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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