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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was life like for the Donner Party survivors in California?
(a) They were shunned for their cannibalism.
(b) They instantly achieved great fame.
(c) They created good lives for themselves.
(d) They had to scrape from the dregs of society since they lost all their belongings.

2. What was the problem with Tommy?
(a) He couldn't breathe right.
(b) His leg wound was infected.
(c) He couldn't walk through the deep snow, and they couldn't carry him.
(d) He wouldn't stop coughing.

3. What kind of relationship did the survivors have?
(a) They deliberately rejected each other.
(b) Most survivors who weren't related didn't keep in touch.
(c) They were more like one big family after the experience.
(d) They gathered together annually to commemorate their survival and mourn those who died.

4. What did Virginia write about Lansford Hastings?
(a) Very little
(b) She said that she finally met him.
(c) She said he took good care of them.
(d) Sh blamed him for their experience.

5. Why did they consider drawing lots?
(a) To see who would be in charge of tending the fire throughout the night
(b) To see who would go ahead alone to find help
(c) To see who should die so the others could live
(d) To see who would go without dinner

6. How many rescue parties left Sutters Fort?
(a) 3
(b) 6
(c) 5
(d) 2

7. Hw many other people died the night Dolan died?
(a) 5
(b) 3
(c) 4
(d)

8. What was completed in 1857, making traveling to California easier?
(a) The Central Pacific Railroad
(b) A highway
(c) A stagecoach pass
(d) A cleared trail over the pass

9. What happened when Margaret tried to cross the mountain?
(a) The snow was too deep.
(b) She missed her children too much so she came back.
(c) Her compass broke, and she had to turn back.
(d) She became ill.

10. What instinctive rule comes into play regarding cannibalism?
(a) They kept their eyes shut while eating.
(b) People only ate their loved ones.
(c) No-one talked about it.
(d) Members of a family try not to eat their own dead.

11. How did Virginia described the occasion where she nearly died?
(a) She was very dramatic about it.
(b) She merely said that her feet were frozen very badly.
(c) She wrote that it was a useless attempt right from the start.
(d) She didn't mention it.

12. Why wasn't William Foster tried for the deaths of Luis and Salvador?
(a) He didn't really do it.
(b) Killing Native Americans was not regarded as murder.
(c) There was no judge.
(d) They figured he had been through enough trauma.

13. What was the weather like as the snowshoers traveled?
(a) The sun was starting to melt the snow
(b) Miserable
(c) Beautiful
(d) Rainy

14. Who was the unofficial leader of the snowshoers?
(a) Margaret
(b) Charles Stanton
(c) James Reed
(d) William Eddy

15. How did the native Americans help the snow shoers?
(a) They fed them pine nuts and acorn bread.
(b) They gave them maps to California.
(c) They carried them back to the camp.
(d) They went and got help for them.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who led the first rescue party that reached the survivors?

2. How did Virginia feel about losing the Pioneer Palace Car?

3. How did they stay warm at night?

4. What job did John and Edward have?

5. What did emigrants do once they realize that they were trapped?

(see the answer keys)

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