The earth embankment dam was planned to be about 250 feet (76 m) high, impounding a reservoir of 4,080,000 acre-feet (5.03 km3).

While it was viewed as a desirable power generation and water storage project by the Corps of Engineers, it was opposed by those it would displace from towns and productive agricultural lands, and was never built.

The dam was proposed in the 1940s as an alternative to the controversial Glacier View Dam, which was strenuously opposed by the National Park Service and conservation organizations as an intrusion into national park lands.

The project required the relocation of roads, rail lines and houses and businesses in several communities.

[2] The complex arrangement placed a 250-foot (76 m) earth embankment across the main channel of the river, diverting the flow to the west, where a straight intake dam structure extending parallel to the riverbed on the riverbank would receive water for the powerplant.