Pittsburg

Port and town in Contra Costa County, northern-central California, USA, at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers at the eastern end of Suisun Bay, 37 km/23 mi northeast of Oakland; population (1990) 47,600. A former coal mining and then fishing community, it became industrialized by 1911, and was renamed to indicate its role as a steel producer. Other industries have included ship repair. Port Chicago lies nearby to the west.

Pittsburgh was laid out in 1849 by the Union general William Tecumseh Sherman. Coal was discovered here in the 1850s, and was mined until the early 1900s, fishing gaining importance as production declined. During World War II and the Korean War, Camp Stoneman was a major military embarkation point.

Pittsburg

Town in Crawford County, southeastern Kansas, USA, 3 km/2 mi from the Missouri border and 231 km/143 mi southeast of Wichita; population (1990) 17,800. Settled as a mining camp in the 1870s, it remains a processing centre for most of the coal mined in the state, as well as for zinc, lead, clay, limestone, oil, and gas. It is a distribution point for agricultural products, and also has railway workshops, foundries, and a large industrial park. Coal mining equipment and building supplies are the principal manufactures. Educational foundations includePittsburg State University (1903) .