Passage Reading and English Comprehension

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 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.

1355. 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

1356. 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
	(b) depleted gold mines
	(c) highway routes to ghost towns
	(d) reduced demand for land travel

1357. As used in paragraph 2, which is the best definition for mode?

	(a) formula
	(b) way
	(c) preference
	(d) option

1358. According to the passage, the initial Iditarod race

	(a) was funded through the sale of musher entrance fees
	(b) was founded by an advocate for Alaskan history
	(c) ended at the ghost town of Iditarod
	(d) boasted a total of 400 entrants

1359. 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

1360. In 1925, when a diphtheria outbreak threatened the lives of people in the remote town of Nome, the government used the Iditarod Trail to transport medicine nearly 700 miles to the town. If the author chose to include this fact in the passage, it would best fit in

	(a) paragraph 1
	(b) paragraph 2
	(c) paragraph 3
	(d) paragraph 4

1361. Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that because the U.S. Army reopened the Iditarod Trail in 1972,

	(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

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Detailed Solution

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110	111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130	131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150	151	152	153	154	155	156	157	158	159	160
161	162	163	164	165	166	167	168	169	170	171	172	173	174	175	176	177	178	179	180
181	182	183	184	185	186	187	188	189	190	191	192	193	194	195	196	197	198	199	200
201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	209	210	211	212	213	214	215	216	217	218	219	220
221	222	223	224	225	226	227	228	229	230	231	232	233	234	235	236	237	238	239	240
241	242	243	244	245	246	247	248	249	250	251	252	253	254	255	256	257	258	259	260
261	262	263	264	265	266	267	268	269	270	271	272	273	274	275	276	277	278	279	280
281	282	283	284	285	286	287	288	289	290	291	292	293	294	295	296	297	298	299	300
301	302	303	304	305	306	307	308	309	310	311	312	313	314	315	316	317	318	319	320
321	322	323	324	325	326	327	328	329	330	331	332	333	334	335	336	337	338	339	340
341	342	343	344	345	346	347	348	349	350	351	352	353	354	355	356	357	358	359	360
361	362	363	364	365	366	367	368	369	370	371	372	373	374	375	376	377	378	379	380
381	382	383	384	385	386	387	388	389	390	391	392	393	394	395	396	397	398	399	400
401	402	403	404	405	406	407	408	409	410	411	412	413	414	415	416	417	418	419	420
421	422	423	424	425	426	427	428	429	430	431	432	433	434	435	436	437	438	439	440
441	442	443	444	445	446	447	448	449	450	451	452	453	454	455	456	457	458	459	460
461	462	463	464	465	466	467	468	469	470	471	472	473	474	475	476	477	478	479	480
481	482	483	484	485	486	487	488	489	490	491	492	433	494	495	496	497	498	499	500

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