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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Laird Robinson stop smokejumping?

2. Who made the crosses that mark the spots the Smokejumpers fell, defeated by the fire?

3. To what does a woodsman look for both the questions and their answers?

4. How did Maclean see the change in our point of view when studying the Mann Gulch fires, now that we know more about the fire?

5. What time was recorded on the watch found near the bodies?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Maclean and his group began their trek to Mann Gulch, how did Maclean respond to those who were concerned about his heart being strong enough to make it to the site of the fire?

2. What different theories did Henry Thol on one side and Carl Gustafson present as to the escape fire set by Dodge? How did Maclean suggest the Review Board of the Mann Gulch fire might have immediately answered the question of the escape fire set by Dodge?

3. Whom did Maclean find at the Hoerner Waldorf-Champion paper mill? What information did this person give Maclean to move him along in his search for Sallee and Rumsey?

4. What object do Sallee and Rumsey discover at the site of a fallen comrade? Why was this discovery important?

5. When did Maclean begin research on the Mann Gulch fire? What where his first steps?

6. What was it like when the fire reached its height and totally covered the landscape? To what did Maclean compare the fire at this point?

7. How did the Forest Service receive Maclean when he began searching for the documentation on the Mann Gulch fire? Why?

8. What did Sallee and Rumsey explain to Maclean that answered one of his most important questions? What was the question? What was the answer?

9. What two emotions governed the analysis of the tragedy at Mann Gulch? How did Maclean describe the first emotion among the men in Mann Gulch?

10. How did Dr. Hawkins describe the death process the Smokejumpers underwent in the final moments of their lives? To what did Maclean compare their suffering?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Point of view is important in any storytelling. What is this story's point of view? Does the author display particular bias toward one theory or another? One group or another? Has Maclean been trustworthy as a storyteller? Discuss using examples.

Essay Topic 2

Maclean and Laird Richardson developed three main questions for which they would seek answers during their study of the Mann Gulch fire. What were those three questions, and did the two men find the answers? If so, what were the answers they found?

Essay Topic 3

Maclean speaks throughout his book about the importance of studying and understanding the Mann Gulch fire of 1949. Discuss why Maclean believes it is important to understand this disaster completely.

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