[4][5] A watercolor painting of the 1856 Flour Mill, done by Carmelita Vallejo, J & J Vallejo's daughter then finishing her studies at the San Jose Notre Dame Academy, showed several buildings surrounding a three-story Flour Mill building with a large wooden wheel on the north side.

[6] In 1865–1866, Western Pacific, one of three companies to build the first transcontinental railroad, built 20 miles (32 km) of track north of San Jose towards Sacramento.

[7] The Western Pacific used 500 Chinese laborers to grade and construct the rail line into the rugged canyon with its tight curves and narrow banks.

[5][12]: 152  Also in November, the Transcript reported that the railroad purchased a quarter section of land west of the new junction for a new town.

[15] That same year, Central Pacific also built a railroad depot, complete with a restaurant and saloon, at the Niles junction for the convenience of the transferring train passengers.

[3] The town plat for Niles west of the new junction, with its lettered and numbered grid streets, was registered in 1884 and did not begin to develop commercially until the early 1890s.