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

2. How many people left with the first rescue team?
(a) 80
(b) 42
(c) 7
(d) 24

3. How did people learn about the story of the Donner Party?
(a) Radio
(b) From newspapers
(c) Telephone
(d) Television

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

5. Why didn't the Piutes help the travelers?
(a) They were afraid of white men.
(b) They didn't know they were there.
(c) It was against their religion.
(d) They didn't know how to help them.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Jean Baptiste Trudeau poking through the snow with a stick?

2. What role did the granite rock have in constructing dwellings?

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

4. What did the Murphy children end out eating?

5. How did Mary Murphy feel after her ordeal?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was happening to the group morale?

2. How did Virginia deal with the idea of cannibalism?

3. What happened to the members of the Reed family?

4. How did Virginia tell her cousin about the personal atrocities that happened on the trail?

5. How did the Donner party story affect emigrants traveling West?

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

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

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

9. What happened to Mary Murphy?

10. Why didn't the Donner families camp with the others?

(see the answer keys)

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