View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book 1, Chapter 6.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Completed after ten years of construction in 1869, what is the significant engineering feat that shortens the trek from Europe to India by some 5,800 miles around the Horn of Africa?
(a) The Orient Express.
(b) The European-East Asian Transcontinental Highway.
(c) The Suez Canal.
(d) The Suez Highway.

2. After forming his private investment syndicate, Ferdinand de Lesseps next obtains the Wyse Concession when he purchases the Turr Syndicate for $2 million to be paid how?
(a) 1/4 in cash, and 3/4 in new company stock.
(b) All in new company stock.
(c) 1/2 in cash and 1/2 in new company stock.
(d) All in cash.

3. What firm tows its first massive, steam-powered dredges to Colon in April of 1883?
(a) Compagnie Universal de Panama.
(b) Herne, Slaven & Co. (later American Contracting and Dredging Co.).
(c) Slaven & Herne Dredging & Contracting, Inc.
(d) Compagnie Nouvelle de Canal de Panama.

4. What results from the six-month expedition led by Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon-Bonaparte Wyse that leaves France in early November of 1876?
(a) All had yellow fever, one died, and two remained to pan for gold in the Bogotá River.
(b) All had heat stroke, one was temporarily insane, and two died.
(c) All had cholera, six died in the jungle, and two died on the return trip at sea.
(d) All had malaria, three died, and he calls for a nine-mile tunnel.

5. What do closed subcommittees at the 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique in Paris establish that the Nicaragua canal route is?
(a) Practical, costing $140 million, and taking 12 years.
(b) Impractical, costing $209 million, including locks, and taking 12 years.
(c) Impractical, unable to estimate cost, and an earthquake area.
(d) Practical, costing $140 million, and taking six years.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is it nearly impossible in the early stages of canal construction to maintain an adequate work force?

2. When Jules Dingler quits upon approaching mental and physical collapse and Maurice Hutin steps in for a month before resigning also, who becomes acting head of the entire effort?

3. 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?

4. What is U.S. delegate Admiral Ammen's view of the American canal plan, given at the 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique, with a 1,900 foot viaduct over the Chagres River, 12 locks at each end, and costing $94.6 million?

5. What are the three main routes from the East to the West coasts of the U.S. in January of 1848, when gold is discovered in California?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 582 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample