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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. What happened to the letters that Bryant sent Reed?
(a) Reed tore them up without reading them.
(b) They were given to Donner instead.
(c) Reed never received them.
(d) Reed laughed when he read them.

2. What did the travelers do before they headed across the desert?
(a) They wrote letters to send back to their relatives.
(b) They prayed.
(c) They made hats to protect themselves from sand and sun.
(d) They rested for a few days in the beautiful valley.

3. How close were the travelers to the summit when they decided to rest and got snowed in?
(a) 20 miles
(b) 50 miles
(c) 1/4 mile
(d) Three miles

4. What was James Reed's occupation?
(a) He ran mills and made furniture.
(b) Farmer
(c) He ran a grocery store.
(d) Lawyer

5. What did the first group find that pioneers had left the winter before?
(a) Maps
(b) Weapons
(c) Food
(d) A cabin

Short Answer Questions

1. How many times did the company end up fording the Truckee River?

2. What did Stanton recommend that the group do before crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains?

3. How did Patrick Breen contribute to the fires at night?

4. What was the Hastings Cutoff trail like?

5. How long did it take the group to prepare to travel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to John Snyder when his oxen team's yolks got tangled?

2. What did the Donner party find when they emerged from the Cutoff?

3. What happened to the oxen during the six days it took to get through the desert?

4. How did the Reed wagons do on the journey?

5. How did Charles Stanton helped the traveling party?

6. How did the Native American treat William Eddy?

7. How did the women feel about the decision, and how was their opinion factored in?

8. What type of obstacles did people on wagon trains frequently have to face?

9. What did the families do in the evenings?

10. What did James Reed say that persuaded the man to take Hastings' Cutoff?

(see the answer keys)

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