MINNESOTA GEOGRAPHY QUIZ 2
1) How were ‘Nor’westers’ identified…
a. by the braids in their hair that kept it out-of-the-way while paddling
b. by the plumes in their caps
c. by the red jackets that came from the British Army
d. by the red colored oversized canoes they used on the rivers
2) Fort Ridgely
a. was attacked twice during the 1862 Dakota Conflict
b. is known as the ‘lost fort’ since its location is no longer known
c. is presently where most Minnesota National Guard are trained
d. is the first fort in Minnesota along the Mississippi River
3) The last major groups migrating out of Europe…
a. were able to find cheap farmland
b. were generally from Southern and Eastern Europe
c. had a difficult time because of the poor paddleboat schedules
d. were required to learn English before they could migrate
4) Trappers who travel between the Lake Superior watershed and Hudson Bay Watershed…
a. paid an extra tax to enter the North West Company lands
b. were called Nor’westers
c. waited until the glaciers melted then took the northern route
d. usually took the train back to Quebec
5) Fort Snelling
a. is located at the confluence of the St Croix and Mississippi Rivers
b. was originally established by the French
c. was the first fort built west of the Mississippi River in the U.S.
d. was built in 1819
6) The North American fur trade…
a. was the cause of over logging the woods in Northern Minnesota
b. was so secretive, that little information was learned of Minnesota’s geography
c. only lasted about five years
d. was responsible for promoting a dependency on trapping for trade goods
7) Which was not one of the trade routes followed through Minnesota…
a. Hudson Bay to the Red River Valley
b. Fond du Lac to St Louis River and up the Mississippi River
c. Missouri River to Sioux River and to Lake Traverse on the Minnesota River
d. Green Bay to the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and up the Mississippi River
8) How many bastions were at the Pine City Fur Trade Post…
a. 1 b. 2 c. 4 d. 10
9) Why would modern tribes like to put new land into ‘trusts’…
a. to place casinos on them
b. to preserve the lands and return them to tribal individuals to farm
c. to auction them off for profit later when land values go up
d. because it is the only way Native Americans can buy land
10) Which was not one of the major migration areas migrating to Minnesota in the 1800s…
a. New England area
b. Mid Atlantic states
c. Overseas nationalities
d. Southern States
11) The 1862 Dakota Conflict
a. lasted 6 weeks
b. destroyed the fort at Grand Portage
c. allowed Native Americans to dictate new treaty policies in Minnesota
d. was the last major battle of Native Americans in U.S.
12) In 1850 Minnesota…
a. you could only legally settle East of the Mississippi River
b. you could ride the railroad to St Paul
c. you could vote in the first state elections
d. you would probably get a job in the Flour Mills of Minneapolis
13) Population born in Minnesota compared to those born outside of Minnesota…
a. had instant voting rights instead of waiting 10 years residency
b. shifted from 1-in-5 in 1860 to nearly half by 1900
c. tended to settle in large cities compared to rural settlement after 1900 of newcomers
d. were more likely to have better early transportation systems with obstacles later
14) Iron Range politics
a. influenced the churches in the area as the churches were financed by the local gov’t
b. forced Minnesota to wait for statehood until 1900
c. promoted the growth of the Mining Industry by supporting the Capitalist Investors
d. sometimes were started in early social clubs for new immigrants
15) Generally, voyageurs were
a. short and strong
b. tall and lanky
c. skilled sailors of the Great Lakes skiffs
d. restricted to the Great Lakes and banned from the interior rivers
16) What was one of the major differences between the French and British Fur Traders…
a. the French penetrated the interior and were actively involved with transportation
b. the French paid with money while the British gave trade goods
c. the British used paddleboats on the Great Lakes instead of canoes
d. the British did not have access North and West of Minnesota
17) The Great Lakes canoe-men were….
a. actually comprised of many women
b. usually used oars instead of paddles on their skiffs
c. sometimes called ‘mangeurs de lard’ because of their eating habits
d. used the same canoes on the Great Lakes and on small rivers
18) The Pine City trading post…
a. lasted nearly twenty years
b. was established around 1804 by the North West Company
c. was one of only 27 ever established in Minnesota
d. still exists and has changed little over the years
19) Until 1871, the policy of the United States…
a. was to treat Indian tribes as ‘sovereign’
b. was to pay cash only for Native American Treaty agreements
c. promoted the relocation of tribes eastward to their original traditional lands
d. allowed Native Americans to settle anywhere they would like
20) By 1934
a. only 10% of the original size of the White Earth Reservation still existed
b. the fur trade ended because of animal cruelty laws
c. due to ‘Prohibition’, the only place to buy liquor was on Reservations
d. the last of the original forest was cleared for farming
21) The first steamboats…
a. often snagged their bottom propellers on logs and the bottoms of the river
b. refused to carry passengers because of more profit with bulk wheat
c. were able to go from New Orleans to St Paul in only one week
d. reached St Paul around 1823
22) Most Finns generally..
a. settled on the opening farmlands in the prairie
b. settled in the north central and northeast part of Minnesota
c. migrated to Minnesota after 1900
d. became established in the large urban areas because there were no new farmlands
23) The Ojibwe…
a. have been in Minnesota longer than the Dakota
b. are also called Lakota
c. have a long tradition of a plains culture
d. arrived in Minnesota in the early 1700s
24) The fort at Grand Portage
a. was attacked several times during the Dakota Conflict
b. had a stockade or palisade to keep out brawls and fights
c. did not allow Native Americans within ten miles of its location
d. was the largest stone fort built in the Midwest
25) Where was the first important commercial center in Minnesota…
a. St Paul at Pigs Eye Island by 1855
b. Minneapolis flourmill district by 1866
c. Red Wing pottery factory by 1822
d. Grand Portage fort by 1733
26) An ethnically mixed group of trappers, Native Americans and settlers…
a. were forced to settle on the Red Lake Reservation
b. started the Dakota War of 1862
c. became known as ‘metis’ who often hunted buffalo
d. were banned by law from settling in Minnesota
27) Why did many Scandinavians migrate…
a. a fish plague decimated the fishing industry
b. over population in the rural areas
c. most of their trees were already cut down
d. the cities were undergoing an economic downswing
28) Generally how was wild rice harvested…
a. stalks were cut from tilled fields and then the rice was flailed into baskets
b. while it was green, it was pulled out of the water and run through a gleaner
c. with a sickle on a long stick and then soaked in vats to remove the rice seeds
d. the tips were beat off standing wetland stalks into canoes
29) Montreal canoes…
a. were primarily used on the Great Lakes because they were nearly 40 feet long
b. were banned from the U.S. because they were classed as unfair trade vessels
c. were mostly used on small rivers because of their small size and mobility
d. were the first aluminum canoes used in the fur trade
30) Today the Grand Portage site…
a. is a National Monument
b. can only be found on old maps
c. is a fairly large town who’s main street paved over the original fort site
d. has eroded away into Lake Superior
31) The Fur Trade economy ended…
a. because of the American Civil War
b. soon after the French sold the U.S. the voyageur layover site in Quebec
c. because beaver pelts fell out of fashion
d. when most of the northern forests were cleared for lumber
32) The Dawes Severalty Act…
a. promoted the reduction of Reservations by assigning head-of-household ownership
b. limited the fur trade in the U.S. but not in Canada
c. imposed penalties for settlers who did not fence their land
d. was a British fur trade tax that hurt the new U.S. government
33) How does the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act differ in Minnesota as
compared to Wisconsin…
a. in Wisconsin, it was never passed
b. there is no difference, since it is a Federal Act
c. in Wisconsin, all proceeds go directly to individuals not the tribe
d. in Minnesota, it can not ever be renegotiated
34) Early settlers in the SE part of the state…
a. farmed mostly prairie lands
b. were mostly brought by the railroad system
c. were restricted to valley floors because of treaty rights
d. generally walked West along the Eastward flowing river valleys
35) The ‘Yankee’ settlers…
a. were known to impose their values on others in the area
b. refused to learn English in schools
c. started the 1862 Dakota War
d. started the Dutch Reform movement in Minnesota
36) After the 1862 Dakota Conflict, most Dakota were…
a. returned to their Reservations
b. executed
c. relocated to Nebraska and South Dakota
d. allocated new farmlands and given the promised treaty goods
37) Why didn’t most early settlers simply walk from the SE corner of the state to the
Twin Cities area…
a. it was easier to take the train in the 1860s
b. there was a very efficient paddleboat service until 1900
c. too many Native American Reservations blocked the easy north-south route
d. no natural corridor existed except the swampy Mississippi River Valley floor
38) Railroads in Minnesota…
a. first crossed over from Wisconsin at Stillwater
b. were established in the western part of the state first, then turned east
c. first in the state, radiated out of Duluth toward the iron ore and logging camps
d. finally reached St Paul in 1867
39) The most numerous European ethnic group to settle in Minnesota…
a. arrived in the beginning of the 1900s
b. were German and settled throughout the state in rural areas, small and large towns
c. came from Eastern Europe and settled the Iron Range
d. actually came out of Canada
40) The Treaty of 1763 caused…
a. the French to lose their trade routes to the British
b. the western boundary of Minnesota to be the Red River
c. the fur trade to end immediately
d. the southern half of Minnesota to become French controlled
41) Voyageurs…
a. followed precise maps that are now on display in the Minnesota History Center
b. usually converted to lumberjacks during the off season
c. were the first ‘river rats’ who floated rafts down the Mississippi River
d. often used the number of pipes smoked to estimate distance
42) ‘Let them eat grass’…
a. was a statement made by a trader later killed in the 1862 Dakota Conflict
b. was entered as part of the ‘Congressional Record’ from a Senator’s speech
c. were the last words spoken at the Little Big Horn by Custer
d. was a slogan to promote more open range cattle in western Minnesota
43) Most Ojibwe…
a. migrated up the Mississippi River from the Ohio Valley
b. were eventually forced to the White Earth Reservation
c. have a long history of plains horse culture
d. were absorbed into the Dakota tribes
44) How wide was the former 1862 Dakota Reservation along the Minnesota River…
a. 5 miles
b. 10 miles
c. 20 miles
d. 25 miles
45) About how many paddleboats would dock in the 1860s St Paul each day…
a. 2
b. 10
c. 20
d. only once a month did one make it that far north
46) Rural populations in Minnesota…
a. peaked around 1900
b. are still growing because of the larger farm sizes
c. migrated to the growing rural towns
d. never were larger than the urban population
47) How do some local government areas react to casinos becoming established there…
a. local gov’ts want them because of all the taxable revenue
b. often viewed as desirable since they generate federal monies for road development
c. they don’t want them because too few workers are usually in the area
d. they don’t want them due to loss of taxable land
48) Which is not one of the Red River Trails that led to Fort Garry…
a. Woods Trail cutting overland through NW Minnesota
b. Minnesota Valley Trail which went first southward and then north to the Red River
c. Plains Trail that followed the Minnesota River then entered North Dakota
d. Mississippi Trail that followed the Mississippi Valley to the Lake of Woods