B.G. Dahlberg landed at Tucson as a passenger once, Friday, April 19, 1929 at 1:00PM. His pilot was George C. Pomeroy. Based in Chicago, IL, they were westbound from El Paso, TX to Los Angeles, CA in the Fairchild FC-2W, NC4770.
Dahlberg was directing head of the Dahlberg sugar cane industries (listed in the footnote in the article below). He used his Fairchild to fly between the various holdings of his company. You will note at the airplanes link that the Fairchild was owned by the Celotex Company. Please direct your browser to the airplane's link to see photographs and information about this well-used airplane, as well as information about, and a photograph of, passenger Dahlberg.
Dahlberg authored an article, below, that appeared in Aeronautics magazine (parent publication of today's Flying magazine) in February, 1930. He describes the use of a Fairchild aircraft to inspect his company's sugar plantation holdings in central Florida.
Sugar, Aeronautics Magazine, February, 1930 (Source: Web)
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Dahlberg also benchmarks the beginning of the sugar industry in Florida in 1926-27. His company's original 700 acre cane field developed into drainage plans and systems of canals, dikes, dams and pipes that disrupted "The River of Grass," the Everglades ecosystem, so dependent on a fragile hydrology that evolved over eons.
Sugar, Aeronautics Magazine, February, 1930 (Source: Web)
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Twenty years later the book by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, entitled "The River of Grass," served to bring to bear environmental and political focus to preserve the slow-moving, shallow water stream that runs over the southern half of Florida from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Her book impacted the environmental history of Florida by redefining the Everglades as a source of free flowing fresh water essential to both the people and wildlife of the region. Her book led to efforts to restore water flow, and abate pesticide and fertilizer pollution. Another significant outcome was the formation of the Everglades National Park by President Harry Truman on December 6, 1947. A large portion of the Everglades ecosystem was thus preserved in perpetuity.
Elsewhere, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA describes Celotex as follows, "A brand name for a variety of fiberboards made from bagasse (sugar cane waste) and/or mineral fibers. The Celotex Company was founded in 1925 to produce the insulating tiles and boards. Celotex products were treated to resist fungi, termites, and water. The boards had a rough, weblike surface that accepted paint well, but they became brittle and friable with age. Low-density Celotex boards were used in the 1930s for heat and sound insulation in such buildings as the White House, Washington D.C. and Rockefeller Center in New York City. The popular Acousti-Celotex ceiling tiles were perforated then stenciled with paints. Medium density fiberboard were used as supports for brick, siding, stucco, and roof shingles. In 1937, Celotex introduced Cemesto, a fire-resistant insulation board that was surfaced with asbestos cement. Cemesto was used in low-cost housing, gasoline stations, factories, and office buildings."
Over the years, Celotex diversified into other building products. Today, a Google search for "Celotex" yields over two-million hits, mostly related to the company's insulation products, and various lawsuits for damages and environmental impacts resulting therefrom (think asbestos, and asphalt shingles).
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 06/18/11 REVISED: 06/12/14
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