The Nevada-California-Oregon Railway General Office Building is an imposing brick structure on Main Street that dates from the early 20th century, when Alturas was a regional hub on the narrow-gauge Nevada-California-Oregon Railway. The NCO ran from Reno north through the high desert to connect isolated ranching communities; it served Alturas from 1912 until it was bought out and the line gradually contracted. The office building — listed on the National Register of Historic Places — is one of the few substantial remnants of that era.
A preserved Southern Pacific steam locomotive (SP 2718, a 2-8-0 Consolidation type built in 1904) sits on display nearby, donated to the county and maintained as a monument to the railroad history that shaped this part of northeastern California. Together they give a sense of how important rail connection once was to a town this remote — and how completely that dependency has ended.