[5][6] On 1 February 1965, the provincial premier Joey Smallwood renamed the river and the falls after the former British prime minister Winston Churchill ahead of approving its large hydroelectric project.

The Innu believed that to look on these awe-inspiring falls meant death[4] and maintained a strong taboo against visiting into the early 20th century.

[7] Fifty years later, the unmapped falls were sought as part of an 1891 scientific expedition to Labrador consisting of alumni and faculty from Bowdoin College in Maine.

On July 26 a four-man party embarked in canoes heading westwards from the expedition's schooner Julia Decker, but injury forced two of them to turn back.

Austin Cary and Dennis Cole continued onwards; after a 300-mile (480 km) trek they reached the falls by foot on August 13.