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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How close were the travelers to the summit when they decided to rest and got snowed in?
(a) 1/4 mile
(b) Three miles
(c) 50 miles
(d) 20 miles

2. What did the travelers use instead of firewood to keep their fires going?
(a) Paraffin wax
(b) Coal
(c) Straw
(d) Buffalo dung

3. Where was the family going to move to?
(a) California
(b) Missouri
(c) Oregon
(d) Texas

4. What book did Reed and Donner use for guidance?
(a) The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California
(b) The Oregon Trail
(c) Go West, Young Man - Memoirs of Daniel Boone
(d) California or Bust

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How many miles would the cutoff save them?

2. Why didn't the Donner Party see other travelers?

3. How did Reed react to Clyman's message?

4. What West Hastings' occupation?

5. What did the children suck on to bring forth saliva?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to John Snyder when his oxen team's yolks got tangled?

2. What type of obstacles did people on wagon trains frequently have to face?

3. What was the Forty Mile Desert like?

4. What did Clyman talk to Reed about?

5. What happened to the group as they reached near the summit of Sierra Nevada?

6. What happened to James Reed after he killed Snyder?

7. What was crossing the desert like?

8. How many miles a day did the Donner Party plan to go, and what with their actual pace?

9. What was "The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California" like?

10. What did the families do in the evenings?

(see the answer keys)

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