The smelting business came to Pittsburg in the late 1880's with the Lanyon brothers who saw an opportunity to smelt cheaply in the coal fields of southeast Kansas. At one time, Pittsburg was only second to Belgium in its yearly smelting capacity with 4 major smelters. With the discovery of natural gas near Iola, the Lanyon's moved their operations there because natural gas was cheaper to use than coal. If you have any information, memories or other photos to share about smelting in Pittsburg, please let me know. Clicking on an link will take you to a larger image.