Southern Illinois
Set in the western area of the Cache River, Southwest Illinois has the second most people across the region. This area's best-known higher education setting is the main campus of the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. The university won the 1971 All-America City Award. It was later a finalist in the 2009 contest, and the fastest growing city in Southern Illinois outside the Metro East, Marion, Illinois. Both cities are in the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area, home to 123,272 local people. In the southern area of the region Alto Pass and Bald Knob Cross are right near the orchards. The large Crab Orchard lake is the largest in the region. Historic Cairo sits at the far southern end near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.