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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where was Harry Chandler born?
(a) Marquette, Michigan.
(b) Akron, Ohio.
(c) Arco, Idaho.
(d) Landaff, New Hampshire.

2. According to the author in Chapter Three, regarding the Bureau of Reclamation, “The most auspicious event in its entire history was the election to the presidency in 1932 of a freewheeling, free-spending” what?
(a) Democrat.
(b) Republican.
(c) Libertarian.
(d) Patrician.

3. Where was John Wesley Powell born?
(a) Mount Morris, New York.
(b) Akron, Ohio.
(c) Gary, Indiana.
(d) Aurora, Illinois.

4. The author describes flying over the state of Utah on his way back to California in what year in the Introduction?
(a) 1980.
(b) 1996.
(c) 1971.
(d) 1964.

5. When did Francisco Vásquez de Coronado set out on horseback from Mexico with a couple of hundred men, driving into the uncharted North, according to the author in Chapter One?
(a) 1297.
(b) 1362.
(c) 1474.
(d) 1539.

6. What is the longest running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth?
(a) MapQuest.
(b) Google Maps.
(c) The SatNav Registry.
(d) The Landsat Program.

7. Who did Charles Rockwood convince to join forces with him in irrigation, according to the author in Chapter Four?
(a) George Chaffey.
(b) Bill Warne.
(c) Michael Robinson.
(d) N.H. Darton.

8. Who was to the man to “discover a malleable yellow rock in the tail race of Sutter’s Mill on the American River above Sacramento” in the 1800s,” according to the author in Chapter One?
(a) Floyd Dominy.
(b) C.W. Hollister.
(c) James Marshall.
(d) Emil Haury.

9. What is the title of the book’s Introduction?
(a) First Causes.
(b) Rivals in Crime.
(c) A Semidesert with a Desert Heart.
(d) Chinatown.

10. What was the population of San Francisco in 1851?
(a) 27,000.
(b) 12,000.
(c) 35,000.
(d) 48,000.

11. John Wesley Powell figured that if you evenly distributed all of the surface water flowing between the Columbia River and the Gulf of Mexico, you would have what?
(a) Lush green pastures as far as the eye can see.
(b) A desert almost indistinguishable from what is there today.
(c) Astounding yields on farms covering a quarter of the country.
(d) The most productive agricultural system the world has ever seen.

12. In 1885, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad linked Los Angeles directly with what city?
(a) Kansas City.
(b) New York City.
(c) Boston.
(d) Chicago.

13. In what year was the Hoover Dam dedicated?
(a) 1935.
(b) 1949.
(c) 1922.
(d) 1956.

14. Who wrote the authorized history titled Water for the West?
(a) Jim Wright.
(b) Michael Robinson.
(c) Floyd Dominy.
(d) W. H. Wattis.

15. The Reclamation Act was authored by what U.S. Representative?
(a) Francis G. Newlands.
(b) Barry Goldwater.
(c) Raymond Hill.
(d) Jim Casey.

Short Answer Questions

1. The Sierra Nevada foothills are how many miles across the Central Valley from San Francisco?

2. Where was William Mulholland born?

3. Who does the author refer to as “an egomaniacal small-time construction tycoon” in Chapter Four?

4. Who is quoted in the beginning of Chapter Four as stating, “Ours was the first and will doubtless be the last party of whites to visit this profitless locale”?

5. William Mulholland’s father held what profession?

(see the answer keys)

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