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

2. What lured emigrants to California in 1849 in 1850?
(a) The discovery of silver
(b) They wanted to meet the members of the Donner Party.
(c) The discovery of gold
(d) The new railroad

3. What did William Eddy find in his pack?
(a) Matches
(b) A knife
(c) Bear meat
(d) Crumbs

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened when Mrs. Reed first saw her husband?

2. How did James Reed revive Patty?

3. How did Margaret and Elizabeth Graves get along?

4. Who had given William Eddy the secret gift that he found in his pack?

5. What happened to the surviving oxen?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did they go about deciding who should be cannibalized?

2. Why couldn't all the survivors get rescued at once?

3. How many rescue teams were there, and what did they find?

4. Why didn't Tamsen Donner allow herself to be rescued for a second time?

5. What did William Eddy and William Foster find when they went to rescue their families? Who did they rescue?

6. What tragedy struck once the first group of survivors made it safely to Johnson's Ranch?

7. What did they decide to do for food in order to survive?

8. How did the members of the Donner Party interact when they reached California?

9. How did William Eddy react to the plan that Williams Foster had- to kill the Indians?

10. How did Virginia inadvertently help the world hear about what happened to the Donner Party?

(see the answer keys)

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