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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. How did W.R. Moore assist Maclean in his research about Mann Gulch?
(a) He ordered that all documents on the fire be sent to Washington, D.C.
(b) He ordered that all Forest Service documents on the fire be available to Maclean.
(c) He ordered that all documentation on the fire be put on the internet.
(d) He ordered that all documentation on the fire be sent to the library in Missoula.

2. What was the Board of Review?
(a) The board appointed by the Forest Service to review the fire.
(b) The board appointed by the governor to investigate Thol.
(c) The board appointed by the president to study smokejumping.
(d) The board appointed by Jansson to learn the truth about the fire.

3. What did the blowup and its fire rising out of Mann Gulch look like?
(a) An atomic explosion as seen on television.
(b) An atomic explosion in Nevada on its way to Utah.
(c) An atomic explosion in a laboratory in Arizona.
(d) An atomic explosion in Montana on its way to Nebraska.

4. What did Maclean believe the atomic mushroom to be a symbol of in the 20th century?
(a) A symbol of the future of science.
(b) A symbol of our inner fear of the explosive power of the universe.
(c) A symbol of everything wrong with governmental agencies such as the Forest Service.
(d) A symbol of American supremacy in firefighting.

5. What began to happen at Mann Gulch forty years later?
(a) Small trees had begun to grow along the gulches on the hillside.
(b) Small brush fires had begun to erupt along the ridge.
(c) Small animals had begun to return to the hillside.
(d) Small bushes had replaced scarred land along the hillside.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Maclean and his party land their boat to begin their trip to Mann Gulch?

2. How did Maclean compare the fire at the top of the ridge to a snake?

3. Who was Arthur P. Brackebush?

4. Why did Laird Robinson stop smokejumping?

5. What did Maclean believe the Smokejumpers had accomplished spiritually at the time of their deaths?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Maclean believed that the Smokejumpers did not see their lives in review as they died. What did he believe their final thoughts to be? How was he able to confirm his idea?

3. What did Sallee and Rumsey explain to Maclean that answered one of his most important questions? What was the question? What was the answer?

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

5. 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?

6. What did the author mean when he spoke of bi-visual and tri-visual?

7. How did Maclean explain the picture of a big fire? What was it made up of in his opinion?

8. What different theories did Henry Thol on one side and Carl Gustafson present as to the escape fire set by Dodge? How did Maclean suggest the Review Board of the Mann Gulch fire might have immediately answered the question of the escape fire set by Dodge?

9. 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?

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

(see the answer keys)

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