A foggy dawn in the wetlands south of Mascoutah, Illinois, reveals the green glass of the Silver Creek Spire cairn. Occasional jets from nearby Scott Air Force Base were only temporary interruptions to the croaking of frogs, the flittering of dragonflies and butterflies, and the sound of a small animal skittering through tall grasses. These wetlands drain into Silver Creek that meanders through agricultural land and small towns to join the Kaskaskia River before it flows into the Mississippi River, south of the St. Louis metropolitan area.