The BIG Confluence Cache is the Southern-most cache in Illinois. It is also the lowest point in Illinois and also the Confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi River.
Marquette and Joliet went past here in 1673. La Salle explored the area for France in 1683. In 1778, George Rogers Clark had fortified gunboats located here to defend against the British and spanish during the American Revolution. In November 1803, Merryweather Lewis and William Clark and their growing Corp of Discovery spent 5 days here before traveling up the Mississippi and into the Missouri River. In 1861, Fort Defiance was built to protect the area from the Confederacy.