Unlike other reservoirs, water is contained not by a single large dam, but by a series of 88 dikes that total 64 km (40 mi) in length in the drainage area of the Churchill River.

Due to the remoteness of the site then, it was considered too expensive to build and deemed not viable.

With the development of technologies for transmission of electricity over long distances the project design to build the power development including the main dam and control structure and the many dykes began in July 1967 by Acres Canadian Bechtel of Churchill Falls, a joint venture formed by Canadian Bechtel and Acres Engineering, as part of the construction of the Churchill Falls Generating Station.

[3] Ossokmanuan became a reservoir for the Twin Falls power station.

It was named after Bowdoin College in Maine which sponsored an expedition in 1891 to visit the falls.