It was built by Calgary Power in 1972, and led to the creation of Lake Abraham, Alberta's largest reservoir.

Planning of the dam involved no evaluation of the social and environmental effects it may have caused, and no public hearings were held prior to the construction either.

The construction of the Bighorn dam flooded the Kootenay Plains and stopped the livelihood (hunting and fur trapping) of the Bighorn Stoney Indigenous that had lived in that area.

However, it has an available water supply that allows it to be the largest producer of hydroelectric energy in Alberta, with an average of 408 gigawatt-hours (1.47 PJ) each year.

The dam was built in 1972 in the mountain gap at Windy Point, in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, west of the confluence of the North Saskatchewan River and the Bighorn River.