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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the hardest part of the trip?
(a) Leaving home
(b) Keeping up with Hastings
(c) Ascending the Sierra Nevada
(d) Dealing with death

2. What did the first group find that pioneers had left the winter before?
(a) Food
(b) Maps
(c) Weapons
(d) A cabin

3. What was in the middle of the desert?
(a) A lake
(b) A mountain
(c) A huge cactus
(d) A cabin

4. What disaster occurred while James Reed rode ahead?
(a) Their wagon train had been attacked, and the food was stolen.
(b) His wife was dead.
(c) His daughter was stung by a scorpian.
(d) 16 of his oxen stampeded into the desert.

5. What was George Donner's occupation?
(a) Lawyer
(b) He ran mills and made furniture.
(c) He ran a grocery store.
(d) Farmer

6. What happened when Hardcoop could no longer walk?
(a) They left him behind to die.
(b) They made crutches for him.
(c) They carried him on their backs.
(d) They let him lie in the wagons.

7. Why did Bridger promote the shortcut?
(a) He had been on it himself and thought it was a wise plan.
(b) He heard good things about it.
(c) He believed in Hastings.
(d) He was desperate for the business it would bring as people passed by his trading post.

8. What was the Hastings Cutoff trail like?
(a) It was barely discernible.
(b) It was marked by Hastings.
(c) It was beautiful every step of the way.
(d) It was a clear path.

9. Independence, Missouri known for all of these except what?
(a) It was the crossroads for pioneers heading west to Oregon.
(b) It was the crossroads for pioneers heading west to California.
(c) It was the crossroads for pioneers heading east to New York.
(d) It was the crossroads for pioneers heading south along the Santa Fe Trail.

10. How many wagons did the Reeds lose in the desert?
(a)
(b) 2
(c) 1
(d) 3

11. How long did it take the group to prepare to travel?
(a) A week
(b) Two days
(c) Two years
(d) Several months

12. Who possessed the west?
(a) England
(b) Californians
(c) Native Americans
(d) Mexico

13. How with the group feeling by the time they reached the shore of the Great Salt Lake?
(a) Angry
(b) Euphoric
(c) Worn-out and discouraged
(d) Tired but happy

14. How did they get the wagons down the canyons?
(a) The men blindfolded the oxen and guided them down with the wagons.
(b) They didn't. They had to leave the wagons there.
(c) They pushed them and watched them roll.
(d) They used rope and tackle.

15. Where did the United States end?
(a) New Mexico
(b) Texas
(c) California
(d) Missouri

Short Answer Questions

1. How many miles would the cutoff save them?

2. What did the travelers encounter as they climbed the Sierra Nevada?

3. How did Pike die?

4. What was Sutter's fort like?

5. What was used to wash the dishes?

(see the answer keys)

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