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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book 1, Chapter 4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique Technical Committe hears proposals for how many passage sites before focusing on the Americans' Nicaraguan and the Wyse plans?
(a) 14.
(b) 19.
(c) 24.
(d) 6.

2. Which organization is later described as representing the world's first "transcontinental" railroad?
(a) The San Francisco-Boston Railway.
(b) The Union Pacific Railroad Company.
(c) The Panama Steam Line Corporation.
(d) The Panama Railroad Company.

3. "The Hero" is a reference to the esteem surrounding Ferdinand de Lesseps at what point in history?
(a) Upon the 1869 opening of his lockless Suez Canal.
(b) His foundation of the Sociyty Civile Internationale du Canal Interocyanique de Darien.
(c) During the ten-month 1870-1871 Franco-German War.
(d) In 1875 when he announces his interest in an interoceanic canal.

4. After leaving the bottom lands of Panama in late 1879, while en route to Panama City, the Ferdinand de Lesseps entourage follow what river toward the summit at Culebra?
(a) Rio Grande.
(b) Chagres River.
(c) Panama River.
(d) Rio Obispo.

5. In what way does author David McCullough find all early 19th-century canal plans preposterous?
(a) Every survey is flawed by inaccurate data and bad assumptions.
(b) Every survey is flawed by lack of effort to gain accurate, applicable data.
(c) Every survey is flawed by failure to consider realistic astrological and geological considerations.
(d) Every survey is flawed by incorrect geographic surveys or lack of geological specimens.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which book does the author urge no action be taken prior to experts first comparing the pros and cons of all potential routes in connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?

2. For what purpose does Navy Secretary George M. Robeson direct Commander Thomas O. Selfridge to the Isthmus of Darien at Caledonia Bay, some 150 miles to the east of the Panama Canal Railroad on January 10, 1870?

3. What happens to Lt. Isaac Strain's expeditionary party in 1850 when attempting to locate a potential path at the Isthmus of Darien?

4. On his 1879 trip to New York, Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse travels to Washington and sees whom?

5. Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse sails back to New York in early 1879 to buy the Panama Railroad Company, but its president is the major stockholder with the leverage to demand what price?

(see the answer key)

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