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

2. What did William Graves believe about when the group's troubles began?

3. How did they help Jimmy Reed travel?

4. What kind of soup did they eat daily?

5. What did Virginia write about her father's banishment?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was happening to the group morale?

3. What troubles did they face as they waited out the winter?

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

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

6. What was the Reed reunion like?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Describe what Christmas was like when the Donner Party members were trapped. Describe Christmas for those at the lake as well as the Forlorn Hope members.

Essay Topic 3

Describe what the rescuers found when they came across the survivors. What condition were the people in? Use specifics.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 653 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample