Texas History Test Risk Assessment & Management 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During the Red River War of 1874, how did General William Sherman's risk assessment shape the U.S. Army's campaign strategy against the Comanche?
- He authorized a winter campaign to destroy Comanche winter camps and food supplies (Correct answer)
- He requested Congressional approval before authorizing any offensive operations
- He negotiated a final treaty at Fort Sill before committing troops
- He relied on Kiowa scouts rather than Comanche informants for intelligence
Correct answer: He authorized a winter campaign to destroy Comanche winter camps and food supplies
Sherman approved a coordinated winter campaign to destroy the Comanche's ability to survive on the Llano Estacado, ending their resistance.
Question 2: How did early oil wildcatters in Spindletop (1901) manage the financial risk of exploratory drilling?
- They required government insurance before committing capital to drilling
- They formed joint-stock partnerships to spread drilling costs among multiple investors (Correct answer)
- They only drilled on land with guaranteed subsurface mineral surveys
- They negotiated pre-sales contracts with Standard Oil before spudding wells
Correct answer: They formed joint-stock partnerships to spread drilling costs among multiple investors
Wildcatters pooled capital from multiple investors so that one dry hole would not bankrupt any single party.
Question 3: What was the primary risk that led the Texas legislature to create the Texas Railroad Commission in 1891?
- The risk of foreign railroad companies monopolizing Texas freight routes
- Unchecked railroad pricing power harming Texas farmers and shippers (Correct answer)
- The risk of railroad-caused prairie fires destroying crops statewide
- Competition from river steamboats undermining rail profitability
Correct answer: Unchecked railroad pricing power harming Texas farmers and shippers
Railroads charged discriminatory rates that squeezed Texas agricultural producers, prompting regulation to protect shippers from monopolistic pricing.
Question 4: Which factor made the construction of the Houston Ship Channel (completed 1914) a calculated risk that ultimately paid off for Houston's economy?
- The channel required dredging through environmentally protected wetlands
- The massive public investment gambled that deep-water port access would attract industrial development (Correct answer)
- Houston competed with Galveston for federal funding, risking the project's approval
- The channel required diverting the Trinity River, risking flooding upstream
Correct answer: The massive public investment gambled that deep-water port access would attract industrial development
Houston's leaders invested heavily in dredging Buffalo Bayou, betting that port access would transform the city into a major industrial hub, which it did.
Question 5: How did Texas mitigate the water security risk for its growing western settlements in the late 19th century?
- Importing water via aqueduct from the Rio Grande for all western towns
- Drilling artesian wells and later constructing reservoir systems for water storage (Correct answer)
- Restricting settlement west of the 98th meridian to water-rich areas only
- Negotiating water rights treaties with Mexico and New Mexico Territory
Correct answer: Drilling artesian wells and later constructing reservoir systems for water storage
Settlers and later state engineers developed groundwater wells and surface reservoirs to reduce dependence on unpredictable rainfall in arid West Texas.
Question 6: What risk to public health did the Texas State Board of Health address following the rapid urbanization of Dallas and Houston in the early 20th century?
- Lead poisoning from industrial paint used in new residential construction
- Epidemic disease spread through contaminated urban water supplies (Correct answer)
- Tuberculosis spread in overcrowded factory tenement housing
- Malaria transmitted by irrigation-related mosquito breeding near farms
Correct answer: Epidemic disease spread through contaminated urban water supplies
Rapid urban growth strained sanitation systems, making waterborne diseases like typhoid a major public health risk that prompted water treatment investments.
Question 7: During the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, which risk management practice did the U.S. Soil Conservation Service promote to Texas Panhandle farmers?
- Switching exclusively to cotton cultivation to replace failing wheat crops
- Planting shelter belts of trees and using contour plowing to reduce soil erosion (Correct answer)
- Abandoning farming and converting all Panhandle land to cattle grazing
- Deep-well irrigation using Ogallala Aquifer water to replace rainfall
Correct answer: Planting shelter belts of trees and using contour plowing to reduce soil erosion
The Soil Conservation Service promoted windbreaks, contour plowing, and cover crops to hold topsoil and reduce the wind erosion that caused the Dust Bowl.
Texas History Test Risk Assessment & Management 4
During the Red River War of 1874, how did General William Sherman's risk assessment shape the U.S.
Army's campaign strategy against the Comanche?