The area that is home to 30,000 to 40,000 historical and archaeological sites is also unfolding as a site for renewed research, service learning and community service for faculty and students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Three SIUC faculty members in late March hosted a daylong bus trip for a group of faculty and staff from SIUC to Cairo and other points of interest to engage the group in the lively history of the area and to talk of the plans unfolding for a renewed University focus on the region.

Robert H. Swenson, assistant professor of architectural studies, Mark J. Wagner, a researcher at the Center for Archaeological Investigations and David V. Koch, associate dean for library affairs provided a running narration for the group as it traveled through the area of the "crescent" (formed by the triangle between Interstates 57 and 24) between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

SIUC has been actively involved in the area for years, with archaeological digs and consultation with various departments. Faculty and students in history, art and design, architecture, recreation, museum studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, music, theater and public administration have long been fascinated with the treasures of the area and have been continually involved there for many years.

Wagner said the three most important sites in the state for archaeologists are the Illinois River Valley, the St. Louis area, and the land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

"The potential for archaeology is great," Wagner said. "We know of about 100 structures associated with the Civil War. We know where some of the contraband camps are." Contraband camps are where former slaves stashed their belongings to keep them safe. It's hard to overestimate Cairo's importance even before Illinois became a state.

"Cairo is where the maps ended," Swenson said. In the 1400s, Hernando De Soto spent time near the confluence of the two rivers. In the early 1800s, when Lewis and Clark made their historic journey from Pittsburgh to the West Coast and back, they began mapping at Cairo. Later U.S. Grant made the site his headquarters during the early part of the Civil War.

At Cairo, SIUC people met with several Cairo officials, including Lisa Thurston, director of the Southern Five Regional Planning District and Development Commission.

"We have the eyes of the nation on us," Thurston told the group, because of the recent designation of the region as the Southern Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone. The region is set to receive $2 million per year as one of only eight such zones nationwide and the only one in the Mississippi Delta and will get extra "points" when applying for other grants because of the designation. "Cairo is our bright star," Thurston said, "but there are a whole line of historic sites to put together."

The possibilities for SIUC to play a major role in the area's development and discovery are myriad. For instance, the researchers are aware of two important historical areas, Fort Juchereau (also known as Va Bache) and Cantonment Wilkinson, but don't yet know where they are located.

Va Bache began as a French settlement in about 1700, the site of a buffalo tannery and fort on the lower Ohio. The settlement served to protect French interests because of their concerns over British efforts to penetrate the Mississippi River Valley.

Established about 1800, Cantonment Wilkinson was home to 1,400 soldiers (about half the U.S. Army at the time) and a military band. By contrast, Fort Massac housed no more than 100 soldiers. After the soldiers abandoned the fort, Cherokee Indians used the best of the unoccupied structures during their short stay in Illinois.

SIU President James E. Walker promised SIU's support for a renewed commitment to the crescent region. "We pledge our support to work with you in any way we can as part of the community and as part of the region," Walker said.

The next step, Swenson said, is a round table discussion with the movers and shakers in Cairo to see how SIUC may be involved in the areas of service learning, economic development and research.

The area that is steeped in treasures, from the Cache River Wetlands to the 2,000-year-old Indian burial mounds to the Civil War naval shipyard where ironclads were built and launched onto the Ohio River to premier Late Woodland (A.D. 600-900) sites, will provide untold opportunities for SIUC faculty and students to practice their talents.

And about that loan that Chicago folks came to Shawneetown seeking. The bankers turned them down. They didn't think it was a very good risk, because anything that far north, in their opinion, wasn't likely to succeed.