[Tom] This week on Arizona Illustrated An Unnatural River.

[Drew] Any microbe plastics that go down our drains at home here in Tucson, they end up going to the water reclamation facilities.

And with the modern treatment standards that we have now wouldn't be uncommon to have 95 percent removal rate of these micro plastics [Tom] And 1890 Hotel proprietors William Curley and Annie Neal [Barbara] Mountainview at that time, in comparison with the hotels that were available in the Tucson area, just absolutely outshine them First of all, it had a wine cellar that was quite interesting and innovative.

[Tom] Welcome to Arizona Illustrated, I'm Tom McNamara, and today we're coming to you from the banks of the lower Santa Cruz River.

Dry and sandy in some places and lush and full of life and others.

In fact, a growing number of plant and animal species are calling it home.

Thanks to the flow of treated effluent into the river.

Now, University of Arizona scientists studied how this recycled water is impacting the biodiversity in the river.

And what they discovered tells us a lot about its health and what the future may hold for similar river ecosystems.

[Ambient Music] [Drew] Arid and semi arid region in general and specifically here in the Sonoran Desert.

Surface water resources are really scarce and they're becoming increasingly scarce as we move forward into the future.

And that's because we have urbanization.

We have more people living here using up these water resources, and we also have changes in precipitation patterns.

There are artificial sources of water that's helping to augment these natural flows, and in some cases they're recreating flow in previously dry portions of rivers and streams, and that's thanks to treated wastewater discharge.

Here in the city of Tucson, there are two water reclamation facilities.

They treat all of our sewage and then majority of that water that treated effluent as it's now is discharged directly into the Santa Cruz River.

[Ambient Music] [Michael] We just kind of started going out to the river, different parts of the river, picking up rocks, looking at what bugs we saw.

The river is obviously different from all other streams around here, natural streams, because it's completely dependent on treated wastewater effluent to flow.

So that's one of the reasons why aquatic ecologists kind of ignored it in the past, because it was seen as like a second class ecosystem, one that wasn't as healthier, as vibrant as other ecosystems.

We knew that there had been wastewater treatment plant upgrades in the recent years.

So there is some indication that the health of the river was improving.

And we just basically set out to see what that looked like on the ground.

[Drew] We ran into rattlesnakes on the river, we gone from 115 degrees sampling days in the middle of the summer where we can't keep the sweat out of our eyes to sampling in the middle of the winter where the water is actually quite cold really early in the morning.

[Michael] It might be a chunky one, to do.

[Drew] Yeah.

Yeah.

[Michael] Almost immediately we saw some of the strange dynamics in the river.

One of the prominent ones in that is that the flow varies with our water use in Tucson during the day when people are awake.

Washing dishes, using showers, the bathroom, the water levels, throwing into the treatment plants are high.

So the treated water coming out of it is also high.

So the flow is high in the river.

Then at night, everybody goes to sleep except for the people working at night, very little water gets used.

And so the amount of water coming in the treatment plants is low.

So therefore, the amount of water in the river is low.

So it has a pretty dramatic cycle from day to night.

So we were curious if the operation of the treatment plants and the water use patterns in Tucson was impacting or limiting the diversity that we were seeing in the Santa Cruz.

So that was the initial goal that we set out to study.

[Drew] Not a lot is known about these affluent dominated river systems like here in the Santa Cruz.

So we wanted to look at the aquatic invertebrates to tell a better picture of what's happening here in the river.

[Ambient music] Aquatic invertebrates are the bugs and the insects and crustaceans that live in the river, and they're known as bio indicators.

Looking at what's living in the river can tell us a lot about the overall health of the river [Michael] And in that early sample, we ended up finding about 40 species of aquatic invertebrates.

And I think at that point, probably only 20 or 25 had ever been reported from the river in total.

So that was really an indication that, OK, this is an unnatural system, but it's obviously more diverse than we've given it credit for.

Largely thanks to the wastewater treatment plant upgrades in 2013.

However, finding 40 species in a river, even though that was amazing for the Santa Cruz, is not amazing for a natural river ecosystem.

We've got a little mix of everybody in the lab, so we've got grad students, undergrads and postdocs.

I like to say, as a rule of thumb, for every hour we get to spend outside playing in the water, we spend eight hours back in the lab actually turning those observations into data.

[Drew] So we collect these aquatic invertebrates samples from these different sites in the river.

We take them back to the laboratory and we look at them under the microscope.

In that process, though, we started seeing these brightly colored objects under the microscope.

All sorts of really bright colors, red, white greens, blues, oranges.

Some of them even have sparkles in them.

And we realize that we're looking at micro plastics in our samples.

[Michael] They really grab your attention.

And then even some of the irregular plastics that are broken down from bigger pieces of plastics, they don't look like the pieces of wood or minerals and rocks that you get in your samples.

[Drew] It was never our intention to collect or start looking at micro plastics, but inadvertently we're collecting sometimes large quantities, large concentrations of these micro plastic pieces that are in our local river system here in the lower Santa Cruz river.

Any micro plastics that go down our drains at home here in Tucson, they end up going to the water reclamation facilities.

And with the modern treatment standards that we have now wouldn't be uncommon to have 95 percent removal rate of these micro plastics prior to the treated effluent that's discharged into the environment But because the the concentrations of micro plastic are so enormous, even five percent that's left over can still represent a large amount of micro plastics, especially over time as it all adds up.

We have those microfibers that are going down the drain when we wash our clothes.

We have potentially micro plastic beads and personal care products that go down our sinks in our shower drains, and they end up going to the river.

But then you also have litter out on the landscape, especially when it comes to single use plastics.

So you have cups and lids and straws and plastic bottles and plastic bags, for example.

If they're not disposed of properly, if they're not recycled properly, if they're littered out on the landscape, eventually those make their way down gradient from wind and rain, water runoff into our river and stream systems.

And so they go from maybe a plastic bottle to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of small plastic pieces as they break down over time.

And then they can spread even more easily into the environment and get into the sediments and into the rivers and streams.

To us, the amount of plastic seemed extreme when we were looking at those initial samples.

But when we compare the amount of plastics that other researchers are finding and other rivers, the Santa Cruz really isn't all that high, especially considering that none of its flow during non rainy times is natural.

Right.

So one hundred percent of that flow is coming from entering the plant.

And we know that the treatment plant water has plastics in it.

And yet what we see in the Santa Cruz plastic wise is pretty similar to what you'd see in a river that's 80 or 90 percent natural flow and only has a small contribution from a wastewater treatment plant.

[Drew] These artificial stream systems like the Santa Cruz river that are supported by effluent are the future.

The surface water resources are incredibly important to the biodiversity, not just the things that live in the water themselves, not just the fish and the aquatic insects, but they're important for the larger ecosystems as a whole.

So all the mammals, the birds, the plants, the trees, the riparian habitat And so because of that, it's important to study these system from a scientific research perspective, but also from environmental managers.

We need to get the data to show the real value of putting this water in these washes and these dry riverbeds so that five or 10 years from now, when the price of that effluent is up and the demand is up, that we can say, you know, this is why we need it in the ecosystem.

This is why we need it in the riverbed.

If we don't make the economic argument for the value of this ecosystem, the value of these effluent dependent rivers, then some competing use will wi and they'll take that water out of the river.

[Tom] To find out more about res projects being conducted at the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment, visit snre.arizona.edu You know, back in 1890's, less than one half of one percent of the population in the Tucson area was black or of mixed race African ancestry.

Yet within that small number was one of the wealthiest self-made black families in the region.

There were proprietors of a luxury resort on Oracle visited by celebrities and foreign dignitaries and prominent business people.

This is the story of William Curly and Annie Neal.

[Narrator] The Mountain View Hotel at Oracle was formally opened by a grand ball.

At midnight, supper was served and what a grand supper it was.

The dancing and hilarity continued until five o'clock in the morning when the party dispersed.

Having spent most enjoyable evening wishing, Mr. and Mrs. Neal success in their new undertaking.

The Mountain View was a very special hotel on its time, and it was something that was a bit of a phenomena, you would first see the hotel if you were coming from Tucson, which just about everybody did you agree would go up the hill.

And as you came down, there was just absolutely unbelievable sight.

So it was very dramatic and dynamic for the period, for the time.

The hotel was just one of the most beautiful buildings in southern Arizona that wasn't in a big city.

I mean, we're talking about a gorgeous building out in the middle of this beautiful country.

The Mountain View Hotel during its heyday had a lot of visitors here.

These were generally people of notoriety.

[Chuck]Buffalo Bill was the most famous at The Mountain View.

Grady Gammage came here who ended up being the president of ASU and the stewards.

And Lavinia Stewart ended up giving all the money for the observatory at the university [Barbara] As it's name became known.

Its fame spread really literally throughout the world.

They began getting international people.

A couple ambassadors stay there, you had a Russian princess, you had italian countesses, you had famous writers, you had the man who wrote the mine with the iron door, Harold Bell.

Right.

Who was the most famous author in the United States at the time.

So it was not just a little out of the way in that people came to.

It was very, very well known.

But what about the proprietors of this notable hotel?

Who is behind this beautiful and famous destination in this rugged landscape?

The year was 1895, and the Arizona Daily Citizen had this to say about the owners.

Mr. and Mrs. Neal have been residents of Tucson for the past 17 years, where for all that time, Mr. Neal is one of the foremost and most progressive citizens we have.

True, steal, and a man whose word is as good as bond.

Mrs. Neal is one of the most charming, genial and appreciative landladies who understands how to perform the difficult art of providing the best accommodations.

This is wild.

This is crazy.

This is this is a black man on this page, Hitchin, like they wrote that in the newspaper.

[Narrator] William and Annie Neal started from humble beginnings, a self-made man and woman whose success came despite many barriers.

[Bernard] William Neil was born in Oklahoma.

He was raised in the Oklahoma territory by the Native Americans.

[Barabara] His father was black and his mother was Cherokee Indian and Curly left home, went to live with an at and used to work in the railroad station.

He met Buffalo Bill there, as a matter of fact, and joined Buffalo Bill as a scout.

And they eventually went off on his own as a scout, but he remained friends with William Cody for for just ever, ever the two of them.

[bernard] He was a very energetic man, an entrepreneur.

He was, too, got a contract from the Postal Service.

He also became he opened his own stable in Tucson.

And so he was just constantly doing very successful businesses, even to create this hotel [Barbara] In the eighteen, late 1880s, early 1890s the most lucrative business.

was freighting, but Curly Neal, probably was the most prominent freighter in the area during that particular period of time.

Curly and Annie Neal met at her mother's boarding house, Curly and Annie both were born on the reservation in Oklahoma, so they had a lot in common and had a lot of Native American in her.

But yet towards the end of, oh, I'd say about 1920s, she was viewed as a black woman Annie was a mulatto.

Let's call her parents were Hannah Box and Wilie Box.

He was perceived by others as being a Negro, and his life was perceived as being a Negro.

But they shied away from it, didn't talk about it.

But the records show a mixed race family.

Annie and her mother and father arrived in the covered wagon and her mother and father put Annie in St. Joseph's Academy.

So that's where she got her.

If you want to call it refinement.

And she really was it was a lady, very refined, refinement.

And she really was it was a lady, very refined, six feet tall, very gracious and very beautiful.

And she was a contrast because although she had this refinement, although she was very, very personable, she was a pioneer woman.

She could outride and outshoot and did on many occasions Buffalo Bill.

I mean, that's going somewhere.

You could do that.

[Chuck] The population of Oracle about the time of the Mountain View Hotel was probably 10.

There was no big houses.

There was no store, no church.

There was just the Acadia Ranch, which was a boarding house.

In 1890, some doctors said Oracle had the best climate for people with tuberculosis, so they turned the Acadia into a health resort .

One third of the world's population suffered from consumption during these years.

And Oracle was a prime place for its good climate and healthy living.

William Curly Neal had the stage route to Mammoth and brought the gold out of the mammoth mines and had the post office route.

And he had to go through Oracle and noticed that the Acadia Health Resort was doing very well.

And so he built a Mountain View Hotel.

The story goes is that his mother in law passed away and his wife, she was very depressed about it, didn't want to get out of bed, and then he realized what would do it.

He realized that he would start building a hotel.

He knew this would get her out of bed and it did.

[Barbara] The hotel, because it was so luxurious and because it had everything in it that I only want it cost around ninety thousand dollars, which in those days I'm talking about 1890, Hey, come on!

[Bernard] which equates to about two point eight million dollars in today's value.

[Barbara] The Mountain View at that time, in comparison with the hotels that were available in the Tucson area, just absolutely outshine them.

First of all, it had a wine cellar, which was quite interesting and innovative and most amazing for the time at the end of each hallway on each floor was a bathroom with hot and cold running water.

And he always ran a full entertainment play.

Outside was a croquet court, and off in the back was a golf course.

She also, for every holiday, managed to have a great big party and invite all the town of Oracle.

She was really into a lot of festivities.

So it's one big happy family up there because of Annie Neal [Moniqua] In 2020, I was often asked how it feels to be, you know, the only black female hotel or the first female black female hotel owner, and it's it's nice it's inspiring to actually realize that I wasn't the first to be connected to my place and my people for that long period of time.

And I think through my career, particularly as a hotel owner and operator, is something that I think a lot of black people don't get to experience, and particularly here in southern Arizona or out in the west.

So Annie Neil was very gracious.

Every story I've ever heard about her was just how wonderful she was.

For one thing, she really loved young people and she was the godmother to a lot of of the kids in town.

But over time and I'm not really sure why, but over time, she was very much involved in the community.

But at some period of time, she was sort of shunned, possibly because she was black.

I'm not really sure.

But it didn't seem to happen right away.

Seemed to happen as more people moved in from other parts of the country The other thing that happened to The Mountain View is that Curly got into a long dragged out, very expensive legal fight.

So I said he was stubborn and he was accused of cutting down more trees than he should by the man who owned the other hotel in Oracle.

And so he kept and he wouldn't pay the fine.

He sued and sued, and sued and sued.

And that hit into his financial situation.

So Curly had less money.

The Biltmore came in.

El Conquistador came in.

They had unlimited funds.

And they also had the advantage of being more modern and bigger and offering more facilities that took away part of the population.

And Annie and Curly, who had been the social leaders especially in the social leaders and Oracle, and now they found themselves on the outside.

It was interesting that whenever there was a card party or a dinner or something that was strictly for charity and that you had to pay money to attend and contribute to or the knock on the door.

And can you help?

They were at The Mountain View.

People were knocking on the door.

They were calling Curly and Annie.

And and we need X amount of dollars for the church or for the Red Cross or for whatever is going on.

But when it came to social activities, Curly and Annie, we were not invited.

And that then began to put the Mountain View in a category that was not considered to be the place to go to.

So my impression is, is that around World War One, the heyday was kind of over, Curly Neal died from a car accident, a car rolled on top of him in 1936.

And that was also the same year that she sold the place.

And he now lived on after that for quite a few years.

And she lived in the Mountain View and she lived until 1950.

At the end, it was kind of a sad situation.

She no longer had any social position, although she was dearly loved by some of the old timers.

The hotel only had two guests, if you want to call them, guests to all miners.

And of course, it was in disrepair.

And that was the end of the Mountain View and that was the end of Annie.

More than 120 years later, The Mountain View still stands today, providing a semblance of its former glory.

Long gone are its sweeping two storey verandahs, fine decor and throngs of impressed visitors.

A church chapel was added in the 1950s, and it continues to be used by a small group of worshipers.

But much of the structure of the original building is unsound and remains unused.

Fading examples of its previous splendor.

[Bernard] Entering into the hotel that they created to actually be here, to walk in the footsteps of some of the guests that were here, it really gave me a thrill.

It does make me feel good that it's still here.

You know, it's part of, believe it or not, Arizona's history.

[Tom] For more about the Neal family and the Mountain View Hotel, visit Oracle Historical Society dot org.

Like what you see on Arizona Illustrated, visit our webpage at azpm.org To watch and share stories from this and previous episodes.

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[Tom] Before we go, here's a sneak peek at a few stories we're working on.

When my father and his family first arrived, they were going to work in the laundry, which my father had already established right down this corner, and they were going to work every day, and that's how they were going to make a living.

The original laundry was a small two room house and the laundry was in part of it.

My mother washed with the washboard, used the hand ringer, hung the clothes on the clothesline.

And when it was cold, she hung on them inside and they all helped.

Seven of the children were born on the second floor of the laundry.

As soon as she was physically able, she went back to work after birth.

My father was he was a glad hander.

He worked hard and never broke the law.

So this is the Shaitan Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery.

So this is the Shaitan Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery.

It's our brand new gallery at the Center for Creative Photography.

It was supposed to open in April of 2020 and it was going to begin with the MFA students in 2020.

And so this is an opportunity for them to come back and a year later and are poetically going to be the first installation that we have now.

A lot of students, especially contemporary artists are thinking about installation as an important part of their practice.

Right.

So in order to have it actually installed in the gallery is to fully realize the pieces.

[Tom] Thank you for joining us here on Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

We'll see you next week.