Cotton was the major crop when the area was first settled, and most larger farms had their own cotton gins. Hoke Duncan worked at the cotton gin in Gilliam for over 50 years and was a descendant of some of the first African Americans who settled in the Gilliam area. Although cotton remains common along the byway, corn and soybeans replaced it as the area's main crops. Self Road, originally called Whiskey Road, runs between Highways 3049 and 71. After whiskey was outlawed in Shreveport in 1911, distillers moved to North Caddo Parish, and Whiskey Road carried people, supplies, and whiskey to and from their newly constructed camp. Two prominent nearby plantations also brought prosperity to the area: Cairo Plantation, owned and operated by the Sentell family for over one hundred years and home to the region's White Dent Corn, and Wild Lucia Plantation, named for a hermit who lived in the nearby woods. These farms and the families who lived on them were part of a broader story of hard work and perseverance that shaped the region.