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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. In a conversation between General Sands and Oliver Houck on a floating conference boat, what does the General remind Houck regarding the vital role of the U.S. Army Corps?
(a) The Corps is keeping his neighborhood safe from nine feet of water.
(b) This is the only organization that has ever succeeded in maintaining order in New Orleans.
(c) No other organization has authority to control Louisiana's rivers.
(d) The Corps keeps the region safe against criminals.

2. Norris F. Rabalais was born and raised in what Louisiana parish?
(a) Evangeline.
(b) Concordia.
(c) Avoyelles.
(d) West Feliciana.

3. The author tells stories of the following people in conflict with forces of nature:
(a) Residents.
(b) Government officials.
(c) Engineers.
(d) All of the them.

4. What is commonly fished from the bayou regions around the Atchafalaya?
(a) Salmon.
(b) Crawfish.
(c) Trout.
(d) Lobster.

5. What river does the author mention that connects the Atchafalaya and the Mississippi to form an H?
(a) Red River.
(b) Black River.
(c) New River.
(d) Old River.

Short Answer Questions

1. In 1973, what happens to the Old River Control structure despite engineers drilling it and filling it with cement?

2. The author retells the time when Raphael G. Kazmann walks out onto the five hundred and sixty-six foot structure over the Old River but leaves quickly because:

3. On General Sand's floating conference boat, Oliver Houck is the only board member who is active in what?

4. The author asserts that due to floods in the region, Louisiana loses how much land each year?

5. At one point, Rabalais drives the author first to the Mississippi River and then to the Atchafalaya River, showing him that the Mississippi is 18 feet above sea level while the Atchafalaya is how many feet above sea level?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the predominant problems in the regions populated near the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers?

2. Explain how the Mississippi River forms Louisiana over many centuries.

3. Describe what McPhee writes about Morgan City, Louisiana.

4. Congress enacts the Flood Control Act in 1928 to launch the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project. What is done through this project?

5. Why does the author state that ever since the Corps took control of the Atchafalaya, the river's name means "collision" to him?

6. What is the Old River Control project developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?

7. Describe Major General Thomas Sands' annual Low Water Inspection Trip along the Mississippi River.

8. In 1927, what happened to the region of the Mississippi River during the great flood?

9. Explain what the author says about Old Cajun bayou life in the Atchafalaya region after the Corps took control.

10. What are some of the main points the author tries to make through this work of historical nonfiction?

(see the answer keys)

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