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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 fast was the Donner Party moving along the Humboldt?
(a) 2 miles a day
(b) 20 miles a day
(c) 10 miles a day
(d) 15 miles a day

2. What was the Caw tribe like?
(a) They were hostile.
(b) They wondered what the travelers were doing.
(c) They were peaceful.
(d) They were wise and offered traveling advice.

3. How did the Native Americans describe the Sierra Nevada?
(a) Entry to a new world
(b) Rock upon rock
(c) Beauty and tragedy
(d) The protective wall

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When did James Reed think they would hit the Sierra Nevada?

2. Where did the United States end?

3. What is caching, according to the emigrants?

4. How did Virginia spend her days after leaving Missouri?

5. How many people were in the group when it was at its full strength?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did some of the people in Springfield question James Reed's ideas?

2. What did the note that Hastings left tell the travelers? Was his statement valid?

3. What would they have to do in order to cross a river?

4. Describe what would eventually become known as the Pioneer Palace Car.

5. How did Virginia feel about her traveling clothes?

6. Why was Independence, Missouri so famous?

7. How were tasks divvied up on the wagon train?

8. Explain the idea behind "manifest destiny."

9. How did the Native American treat William Eddy?

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

(see the answer keys)

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