View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the early 1800s, private plantation owners in Louisiana levee riverbanks to:
(a) Store river water.
(b) Protect their land.
(c) Combine river water.
(d) Irrigate their land.

2. Throughout the book, a predominant theme is that the following gets in the way of man's plans:
(a) Environmental Protection Agency.
(b) The economy.
(c) Machinery.
(d) Nature.

3. Rabalais says he remembers being taught in high school that one day, these would be built:
(a) Structures to control water flows.
(b) Lighter and sturdier barges.
(c) Skyscrapers along the river banks.
(d) Ships to travel faster along rivers.

4. What are residents of French Acadia called?
(a) Arcadians.
(b) Mississipiuns.
(c) Cajuns.
(d) Francadians.

5. When the author recalls his first time in the Atchafalaya swamps with Charles Fryling in 1980, what does he fondly remember?
(a) Seeing lightning bugs for the first time.
(b) His first encounter with a baby alligator.
(c) Floating among trees under silently flying birds.
(d) The water rushing through locks and gates.

Short Answer Questions

1. From St. Louis down to the Atchafalaya, General Sands takes note of what?

2. Atchafalaya is a what?

3. From the time that the U.S. Army Corps takes control of the Atchafalaya, what word does the author associate with the river and the region?

4. During the fifty years between New Orleans' floods of 1735 and 1785, what does the author say brings a false sense of security against flooding?

5. The author states that how much of New Orleans lies fifteen feet below sea level?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Henry Shreve, and what does he do?

2. Name some of the companies and industries that are attracted to the regions in and around Baton Rouge and New Orleans as these communities develop.

3. What is the goal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with regards to the Atchafalya and Mississippi rivers?

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

5. In the 1700s, why did people settle in New Orleans and surrounding areas despite the region clearly being a floodplain?

6. Describe some of the challenges New Orleans faces because of its geographical location.

7. What is Major General Sands' concluding thoughts regarding the Old River Control Structure?

8. Explain who thinks the Old River Control project is an arrogant enterprise, and why they think this.

9. The Old River Control project began operating in 1963. What happens ten years later?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 986 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample