The towns of Parowan and Cedar City were founded in 1851 to provide iron for the settlers, which was mined in the Iron Mountain District. Problems plagued the early furnace at Cedar City, and only about of pig iron was produced over a three-year period. Iron was nonetheless needed for continued Mormon prosperity, so a second furnace at Old Irontown (Little Pinto) was made in 1868, using iron ore deposits at the southwestern base of Iron Mountain. By 1874, about of pig iron was produced, when operations ceased, and then abandoned 10 years later.