The concrete dam was originally completed in 1924, then re-constructed between 1951 and 1955, by the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

[1] It impounds the Payette River for the diversion of water into the Black Canyon and North Side Main irrigation canals, and the generation of about 2 megawatts of hydroelectric power, part of the Bureau's larger Boise Project.

The riverine reservoir it creates, the Black Canyon Reservoir, has a normal water surface of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km2),[1] about twelve miles of shoreline, and an original maximum capacity of 44,700 acre-feet, reduced by siltation to about 31,200 acre-feet.

[3] Recreation includes boating and fishing.

[4] The installation of a third hydropower generating unit has been funded by Bonneville Power Administration for completion in 2013.