These falls and the canyon downstream are an important feature of the channeled scablands created by the great Missoula floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch.

[3][6] The area is characterized by interconnected and hanging flood-created coulees, cataracts, plunge pools, kolk-created potholes, rock benches, buttes, and pinnacles typical of scablands.

[5] In 1984, the Franklin County Public Utility District proposed a 98-foot-high (30 m) dam be constructed upstream of the falls, allowing for a significant hydraulic head for hydroelectric power generation.

As a result of the unofficial world record for the highest waterfall run, questions were raised about the correct height of the main drop for the falls.

[11] The proposal for the bill originated when a group of elementary school students in the nearby town of Washtucna lobbied the state legislature.