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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did Tamsen keep the children occupied?
(a) She made crafts with them out of natural materials.
(b) She told them stories from the Bible.
(c) She gave them chores to do.
(d) She had them make up stories.

2. Why wasn't William Foster tried for the deaths of Luis and Salvador?
(a) There was no judge.
(b) They figured he had been through enough trauma.
(c) He didn't really do it.
(d) Killing Native Americans was not regarded as murder.

3. What happened to the surviving oxen?
(a) They were killed one by one as time progressed and people got hungry.
(b) They were set free.
(c) They built a barn for them.
(d) They were slaughtered for food and for their hides.

4. When did Mary Murphy get married?
(a) Nine months after her rescue
(b) Within a week of her rescue
(c) Within a year of her rescue
(d) Within a month of her rescue

5. What instinctive rule comes into play regarding cannibalism?
(a) Members of a family try not to eat their own dead.
(b) No-one talked about it.
(c) They kept their eyes shut while eating.
(d) People only ate their loved ones.

6. What was Louis Keseberg notorious for?
(a) Possibly killing Tamsen Donner
(b) Killing Charles Stanton
(c) Robbing the others
(d) Starting fights

7. How did the rescue party find the survivors?
(a) They used a detailed map.
(b) They asked the Native Americans.
(c) They followed trails.
(d) They saw the swirls of smoke coming from the cabins.

8. What was life like for the Donner Party survivors in California?
(a) They were shunned for their cannibalism.
(b) They created good lives for themselves.
(c) They had to scrape from the dregs of society since they lost all their belongings.
(d) They instantly achieved great fame.

9. How did Virginia feel about losing the Pioneer Palace Car?
(a) She was devastated.
(b) She thought it was practical.
(c) It didn't seem to bother her much.
(d) It made her angry.

10. Why didn't the Piutes help the travelers?
(a) They didn't know they were there.
(b) It was against their religion.
(c) They didn't know how to help them.
(d) They were afraid of white men.

11. What did Virginia write about her father's banishment?
(a) She only said that he had to go on to California for provisions. D
(b) She wrote that his punishment was very unjust.
(c) She said it was fair.
(d) She didn't write about it at all.

12. What did emigrants do once they realize that they were trapped?
(a) They hunted for food.
(b) They turned around.
(c) They began to make dwellings.
(d) They cried.

13. What did William Graves believe about when the group's troubles began?
(a) He believed it was a test to determine their strength as a unit.
(b) He believed it was bad karma.
(c) He believed they should have been more aware of what was going on.
(d) He thought it was a punishment from God for leaving Mr. Hardcoop to die. O

14. What is cannibalism?
(a) When you only eat soup
(b) A type of disease that infects children
(c) The eating of human flesh
(d) When you are overly aggressive

15. What was completed in 1857, making traveling to California easier?
(a) A cleared trail over the pass
(b) The Central Pacific Railroad
(c) A highway
(d) A stagecoach pass

Short Answer Questions

1. Who did Foster want to kill?

2. What happened to John Breen in California?

3. What happened when Mrs. Reed first saw her husband?

4. How close were the dwellings to each other?

5. Why didn't Virginia join the group that went off for help?

(see the answer keys)

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