The first stones for what was originally named the Curtis Hotel were laid by Mrs. Curtis (Mr.
Curtis was hunting elk at the time on the Flournoy property without permission) near the dusty and parched south
east corner of Main and Modoc Streets of Alturas in 1908 because it seemed like a good idea to her at the time.
In 1912 Jay Eugene Niles purchased the building because he wanted to eliminate his competition, completed the second
and third floors and renamed it, oddly enough, the Niles Hotel.
Since 1908 the Niles Hotel in Alturas has
been the social hub of Modoc County, the meeting place for cattlemen doing back room deals over poker, liquor and
cigars; railroad workers complaining about management and working conditions; farmers and ranchers fighting over water (more
men have been killed in Modoc County over water than women), loggers threatening everyone in and out of their way; salesmen
too tired from hustling on the road to move on, tourists who gawked at the weird conglomeration and conflagrations (guns had
to be declared and checked at the front desk), and local businessmen who knew better than to miss any opportunity to meet
the demand for land, lumber, whiskey, guns, ammo and women.
When the Niles was first built each of the sixty
guest rooms was furnished with a wood burning stove used at your own risk. During winter months the hotel guests would stay
warm in their rooms, if alone, by purchasing an armload of mostly green wood at the lobby desk for two bits, which was
negotiable. Under the ownership of Mitch and Babe Jurasevich (who owned and operated the hotel for over 40 years more
or less, depending on who was keeping track) "modernization" materialized in the form
of lowered ceilings that did nothing to change the ambience, steam heat when it arrived, private baths you could turn around
in and the first elevator in Modoc County, if you didn't mind taking your chances on getting off on the wrong floor.
The Niles Hotel, soldiering diligently on against
all odds, prospered through the roarin' twenties, the Great Depression, four major wars and numberous minor ones (some
of which originated in Modoc County and are still being fought to this day), and the administration of fifteen American presidents,
none of whom saw fit to stay at the Niles.
Renovation of the Niles began in the 1960's and
painstaking care was used now and then to restore the haughty grandeur and notoriety of the early 1900's. The Niles Hotel
is filled with antiques, memorabilia and relics of the bygone Old West era--some of whom can be seen alive and well behind
the front desk this very day.
Come and enjoy a stay at the Niles Hotel where
the present and past are strangely intermingled in Alturas in Modoc County--the big little county that time
forgot and is designed to stay that way.
