Pocahontas lies in a mountainous region rich in bituminous coal deposits, so much so that Pocahontas coal is known everywhere. The description of the county's bounds notes the lines of Greenbrier, Bath, Randolph and Pendleton counties and "Randolph court House." This is the first mention of a courthouse anywhere in this area. After discussing eight counties now in West Virginia, we come to a Virginia county, Alleghany, formed in 1822 from Botetourt, Bath and Monroe counties. It is the name the Delaware Indians gave both the Ohio and the Alleghany rivers, but its origin is uncertain. Presumably, the mountains took their name from the river. Within the bounds of Alleghany County the Jackson and the Cow-pasture rivers unite to form the James River, the longest river in the state and the most important in its early history. Its bounds were thus described: "beginning at the top of the middle of Potts' mountain, where the road leading from Fincastle to the Sweet Springs crosses the same; thence with said road to the top of Peter's mountain; thence a straight line to the Greenbrier county line on the top of the Alleghany mountain so as to pass between the Sweet and Red springs; thence with the top of the Alleghany or Greenbrier line to a certain point so that a straight line drawn thence to include in the new county Captain Henry Massie's plantation in the Falling Spring Valley may also include Archibald Morriss's plantation on Jackson's river in said new county; thence a straight line from the said Massie's across the Cow-pasture river immediately below William Griffin's on said river to the Rockbridge county line; thence with said line to a point in the Rockbridge and Botetourt line so that a line drawn from thence will pass at or near the junction of Jackson's and Cow-pasture rivers to the nearest part of the Rich Patch mountain; and this line to be so run as to leave the house and yard of Captain John Jordan in the county of Botetourt; thence with the highest points of the said Rich Patch mountain next to Craig's creek so as to include the inhabitants of the Rich Patch in said new county, to a point at which it unites with Potts' mountain, thence with the top of the said mountain to the beginning." In 1824 the county of Logan was formed from portions of Giles, Cabell, Tazewell and Kanawha counties. It lay in the southwestern part of the present West Virginia not far from the Kentucky line. The name derives from the Mingo Indian chieftain whose famous speech preserved by Thomas Jefferson was long a popular selection for young would-be orators. 1830-1840 LARGE INCREASE IN POPULATION NECESSITATES FOURTEEN NEW COUNTIES