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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. What was life like for the Donner Party survivors in California?

2. Why didn't the Piutes help the travelers?

3. How did Victoria react to the cannibalism?

4. Why wasn't William Foster tried for the deaths of Luis and Salvador?

5. Who did Mrs. Murphy say they ought to eat?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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. How many people were stuck camping near the lake, and how many people went off to find help nine days before Christmas?

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

10. What complications did the group which later became known as Forlorn Hope face?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What happened at the campfire that led to Patrick Dolan's death?

Essay Topic 2

How did the group feel about the Native Americans? How did Luis and Salvador help the team? What happened to them? How did the team members react? How did the Miwok Indians help them?

Essay Topic 3

What did the travelers have to do to prepare for their journey, and how long did it take them?

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This section contains 597 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample