The Bend Water, Light and Power Company, a privately owned company, built the dam in 1910 and the powerhouse in 1913, and both were later sold to the Pacific Power and Light Company. The dam holds back the waters of the Deschutes River to form Mirror Pond, is 252 feet long and 14 feet high, and has remained essentially unaltered since its completion. A 150-foot concrete gravity wall connects the dam to the powerhouse. The powerhouse contains three turbines with a combined generation capacity of 1,110 kilowatts, has undergone few changes since its completion in 1913, and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Bend.