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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Congress mandates that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey the Mississippi and tributaries in order to assure and improve what?

2. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers develops a plan to do what?

3. The writing on Dugie's belt buckle reads:

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the book, the author discusses people who try to control nature as well as people who respect nature and choose to live with it instead of working against it. Compare and contrast these two groups of people using specific examples from each section.

Essay Topic 2

Select an example from one of the three primary stories that describes people's efforts to control nature that actually work.

1. How are these efforts successful?

2. Who benefits, and how?

3. What, if anything, suffers?

4. Does the success appear to be short-lived or long-term?

Essay Topic 3

1. How might building more debris basins alleviate mountain debris flow problems in Southern California? How might building more basins aggravate the problem?

2. How might adding more river control structures near the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana alleviate the region's flooding problems? How might adding more structures aggravate the problem?

(see the answer keys)

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