Aboriginal and Early European Views On The Falls
The falls were a significant landmark for local aboriginal peoples; the Montagnais-Naskapi believed that to look on these awe-inspiring falls meant death. In 1839, John McLean became the first non-Aboriginal to reach Churchill Falls. McLean was trader of the Hudson's Bay Company and he named the river the Hamilton River, after Newfoundland Governor, Sir Charles Hamilton. The falls were then largely forgotten until 1894 when Albert Peter Low of the Geological Survey of Canada reached the Grand Falls (as they were known) during his study of the large number of iron ore deposits in western Labrador and northeastern Quebec. The name of the river and falls was changed to the Churchill River and Churchill Falls in 1965 to honour the former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill.
In 1915, Wilfred Thibaudeau surveyed the Labrador Plateau and engineered a channel scheme which could be used to divert the water from the river before it arrived at the falls. The scheme would use the natural capacity of the basin, thereby eliminating the need for the construction of massive dams.
In 1947, Commander G.H. Desbarats, under the direction of the Newfoundland Government, completed a preliminary survey that confirmed Thibaudeau's findings. However development did not proceed due to several reasons:
- the inhospitable terrain
- severe climatic conditions
- geographic remoteness
- long distance transmission requirement
- the lack of markets for such a large block of power
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