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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Patrick Dolan die?

2. How did the native Americans help the snow shoers?

3. What lured emigrants to California in 1849 in 1850?

4. What happened to George Donner's hand?

5. What happened to the dogs that were traveling with the group?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why didn't the starving people hunt for food?

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

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

5. How did the group members respond when it actually came time to eat one of their comrades?

6. What happened to Louis Keseberg?

7. What did the group do when they realize that they couldn't reach a summit?

8. What was happening to the group morale?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What did the group expect of the weather when they reached the Sierra Nevada? What decisions did they make, and what warnings did they have that they should have paid more heed to? Why didn't they heed the warnings?

Essay Topic 2

What disrupted James Reed's attempt to put together rescue teams? How did he manage to eventually get help?

Essay Topic 3

What were some of the things the members of the Donner Party resorted to as they tried to deal with their hunger?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 608 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample