As in most of the early villages along the Skagit river, one of the first priorities was to clear the forest land to provide space for a townsite and residential area. This photo of the Hamilton Logging Co. shows a crew in action.
Because of aridity and scarcity of rain Arabian Gulf is considered to be poor as far as natural plants are concerned. Natural vegetation in the Arabian Gulf region have deep roots or thorn-like small leaves, hence they endure aridity and overcome its impact.
Otherwise, Saudi Arabia would send more oil the shorter distance to Asia, while West Africa would send more oil the shorter distance to the Americas. Gulf (of Mexico) refineries are said to have invested in capability to process heavy and/or high-sulfur oil. The 0.9 Mbbl/day each from Saudi and Venezuela are largely heavy oil. However increased US light oil production is not only displacing African light crudes from the East Coast, but also reducing the need to crack heavy crudes.