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

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

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

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

5. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers develops a plan to do what?
(a) Protect the fish population of the Atchfalaya River.
(b) Build twenty large dams on the Atchafalaya River.
(c) Develop communities along the Mississippi River.
(d) Control natural shifts of the Mississippi River.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. What is the author's role in this book?

3. While aboard the Mississippi on his annual trip, General Sands tries to:

4. Who is Raphael G. Kazmann?

5. In the spring of 1973, what does the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers do to try to alleviate the tremendous force of water against the control structure?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What is Major General Sands' concluding thoughts regarding the Old River Control Structure?

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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