In the first half of the 20th century, small-scale artisanal miners, known as pork-knockers, recovered significant quantities of gem-quality diamonds from the area's rivers and streams.

Up river from the falls, the Potaro Plateau stretches out to the distant escarpment of the Pakaraima Mountains.

In the mid-1950s, the first hydropower plant was built at the Tumatumari falls by British Guiana Consolidated Goldfields Limited.

Its purpose was to power the dredges of their gold mining operations, however a prolonged workers' strike led to closure.

[8] In 1933, the Denham Suspension Bridge opened near Potaro Landing to shorten the access to the gold fields of the interior.