This aerial photo was taken 19900930. The plane is flying west over Avenue D. The road going north through the center of the picture was a poorly maintained country road until about 1915 when the citizens of the town of Kiron petitioned the board of supervisors of Crawford county to declare that this road supersede the 'Spirit Lake Airline' as the main road from Denison to Kiron. This was the inevitable result of the relocation of Kiron from the "old Kiron" location to the location shown above -- such relocation being caused by the arrogance of the Chicago and North Western Railroad's land company. With the coming of the automobile, the State of Iowa designated this road as Iowa #4. This designation lasted until about 1970 when an interstate alignment of road designators resulted in a change to Iowa #39.

When the earliest pioneers saw this land, they were very aware that very few trees existed - the result of uncontrolled prairie fires. It is even written that Elias Mönsson chose his land because it had a few trees down by the creek bed. These early pioneers planted many trees especially around their homes and along the roads that fronted their farms. Landscaping seemed to be an important way to demonstrate uniqueness and pride of ownership. This picture taken 120 years later shows how this cycle has gone full circle with the practice now being to remove as many trees as possible to accomodate the 'grain production factory' philosophy of farming. There is no longer the need for owners to live on the land and the consequent need of trees for winter protection or for beauty.