It is the most northerly and last of three Great Depression-era public electrification projects' hydroelectric dams, and was constructed between April 1, 1930, and December 7, 1931.

The mixed marshy terrain of the Conejohela Valley contained rapids and small waterfalls, wetlands, and thick woods along both sides of the river within a ten-year floodplain which saw annual inundations all the way down into Maryland at the headwaters of Chesapeake Bay, and experienced catastrophic floods regularly (the meaning of a ten-year floodplain).

Many of those habitats effectively created difficult walking and horseback terrains, which stifled east-west crossing of the lower Susquehanna in colonial Pennsylvania-Maryland, spurring the 1730 opening of the historic Wright's Ferry and (later the first two) Columbia-Wrightsville Bridges, once believed to be the longest covered bridges in the world.

Units 1 and 2 are Kaplan turbines which are connected to single-phase generators to feed Amtrak's 25 Hz traction power system.

Typically, two thirds of the 25 Hz power output is dispatched to Amtrak's substation in Perryville, Maryland via four circuits.

On May 18, 2001, President George W. Bush visited the Safe Harbor Hydroelectric plant to expound on his just-unveiled National Energy Policy.