English Comprehension for Section officer
In the early
1920's, settlers came to Alaska looking for gold. They traveled by boat to the
coastal towns of Seward and Knik, and from there by land into the gold fields.
The trail they used to travel inland is known today as the Iditarod Trail, one
of the National Historic Trails designated by the Congress of the United
States. The Iditarod Trail quickly became a major thoroughfare
in Alaska, as the mail and supplies were carried across this trail. People also
used it to get from place to place, including the priests, ministers, and
judges who had to travel between the villages. In the winter, the settlers’
only means of travel down this trail was via dog sled.
Once the
gold rush ended, many gold-seekers went back to where they had come from, and suddenly
there was much less travel on the Iditarod Trail. The
introduction of the airplane in the late 1920’s meant dog teams were no longer
the standard mode of transportation, and of course with the airplane carrying
the mail and supplies, there was less need for land travel in general. The final blow to the use of the dog teams was the appearance
of snowmobiles. By the mid 1960's, most Alaskans didn’t even know the
Iditarod Trail existed, or that dog teams had played a crucial role in Alaska’s
early settlements.
Dorothy G. Page, a
self-made historian, recognized how few people knew about the former use of
sled dogs as working animals and about the Iditarod Trail’s role in Alaska’s
colorful history. To raise awareness about this aspect of Alaskan
history, she came up with the idea to have a dog sled race over the Iditarod
Trail. She presented her idea to an enthusiastic musher, as dog sled drivers
are known, named Joe Redington, Sr. Soon the Pages and the Redingtons were
working together to promote the idea of the Iditarod race. Many people worked
to make the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race a reality in 1967. The Aurora Dog
Mushers Club, along with men from the Adult Camp in Sutton, helped clear years
of overgrowth from the first nine miles of the Iditarod Trail. To raise interest in the race, a $25,000 purse was offered,
with Joe Redington donating one acre of his land to help raise the funds.
The short race, approximately 27 miles long, was put on a second time in 1969. After
these first two successful races, the goal was to lengthen the race a little
further to the ghost town of Iditarod by 1973. However
in 1972, the U.S. Army reopened the trail as a winter exercise, and so in 1973,
the decision was made to take the race all the way to the city of Nome—over
1,000 miles. There were many who believed it could not be done and that
it was crazy to send a bunch of mushers out into the vast, uninhabited Alaskan
wilderness. But the race went! 22 mushers finished that year, and to date over
400 people have completed it.
1. The primary purpose of this passage
is to
a. recount
the history of the Iditarod trail and the race that memorializes it
b. describe
the obstacles involved in founding the Iditarod race
c.
outline the circumstances that led to the establishment of the Iditarod Trail
d. reestablish the important place of the
Iditarod Trail in Alaska’s history
2) Based on information in the passage,
it can be inferred that all of the following contributed to the
disuse of the Iditarod Trail except
a.
more modern forms of transportation c. highway routes to ghost towns
b.
depleted gold mines d. reduced demand for land travel
3) The word,
‘thoroughfare’ used in paragraph 1 carries meaning of
A. formula
c. preference c. way d. Option
4) As used in paragraph 3, the phrase
“self-made historian” implies that Dorothy G. Page
a.
was employed by the state to keep its dog sled history alive
b.
was determined to honor the glories of the gold rush in spite of her
questionable credentials
c.
had pursued the study of Alaska’s history out of her own interest
d.
had personally educated others about Alaska’s history
5) Based on information in the passage,
it can be inferred that the U.S. Army reopened the
Iditarod Trail in 1972, because
A. more people could compete in the
Iditarod race
B. the mushers had to get permission
from the U.S. Army to hold the race
C. the trail was cleared all the way to
Nome D. the Iditarod race became a seasonal Army
competition