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.
Gulf refineries (Texas, Louisiana) still import some oil from Gulf producers (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait), mainly because they had invested heavily in refineries for heavy oil, but Western Hemisphere sources of heavy oil are lagging: Keystone XL is not bringing tar oil from Alberta, and Mexico and Venezuela have been slow to work with international oil companies to expand production.