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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. Who is one of the best bibliographical references about the Mann Gulch fire available to Laird and Maclean?
(a) The head librarian at the local library.
(b) The chief librarian at the New York City Library.
(c) The Forest Service land office manager.
(d) The postmistress of a nearby logging town.

2. Why did Laird Robinson stop smokejumping?
(a) He injured himself in a car accident.
(b) He injured himself landing on a fire.
(c) He injured himself while hiking.
(d) He injured himself while working in Missoula.

3. What year is generally seen as the beginning of modern scientific study of fire behavior?
(a) 1946.
(b) 1918.
(c) 1922.
(d) 1946.

4. How did Maclean explain the change in the world after compassionately studying the fire at Mann Gulch?
(a) Moving from a "seeing world" to a "feeling world" for the pain of others.
(b) Moving from a "feeling world" to a "comprehending world" for the loss of the Smokejumpers.
(c) Moving from a "hearing world" to a "feeling world" by learning from the past.
(d) Moving from a "seeing world" to a "hearing world" by understanding the terrifying sounds of fire.

5. Where did Maclean place the ashes of his wife Jessie when she died?
(a) On Mount Helena.
(b) At Seely Lake.
(c) On Mount Jessie.
(d) On the western bank of the Missouri.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was Henry Thol, Sr.?

2. What did Maclean call the "No Man's Land" of the Mann Gulch fire?

3. What did Mike Mansfield accomplish for the families of the fallen Smokejumpers?

4. What did Sallee and Rumsey say as they went up the last hillside?

5. Who did Maclean watch play billiards nearly every day when he was a young teacher?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the movie released in 1952 about the Mann Gulch fire? What does Maclean note about the film and its historic accuracy?

2. Whom did Maclean find at the Hoerner Waldorf-Champion paper mill? What information did this person give Maclean to move him along in his search for Sallee and Rumsey?

3. How did the author describe the final moments of the men's lives before the fire overtook them? What elements of nature were prominent in their lives just before their deaths? How did they actually die?

4. Who was Henry Thol, Sr.? What was his role in the Mann Gulch fire?

5. What object do Sallee and Rumsey discover at the site of a fallen comrade? Why was this discovery important?

6. How did Dr. Hawkins describe the death process the Smokejumpers underwent in the final moments of their lives? To what did Maclean compare their suffering?

7. What two emotions governed the analysis of the tragedy at Mann Gulch? How did Maclean describe the first emotion among the men in Mann Gulch?

8. What happened to the men when they left the foreman, Dodge, at the site of the escape fire? What name did the author give to the point at which the men left? From what perspective did the author tell the story of their assent?

9. How did the perspective shift as the author continued his discussion of the fire from looking at the mushroom cloud in the sky? What did he hope to learn by changing perspective?

10. What did the land in Mann Gulch look like in the aftermath of the fire?

(see the answer keys)

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