When plans for construction were given the green light on the W. A. C. Bennett Dam (known as the Portage Mountain Dam during construction), clearing the soon to be reservoir was the first step in the process. It was a massive undertaking which was completed on the shoestring budget of five million dollars by the Forest Service Branch. When the water rose, hundreds of thousands of acres of cut trees floated on the lake surface The initial stages of construction required building a coffer dam, preparing the foundations and injecting grout into the ground to create a watertight seal, building a drainage system, and excavating to create a solid base for building. Over the course of construction, of rock and dirt were taken from the nearby glacial moraine by conveyor belt to create the dam relying primarily on gravity to hold it together. Upon completion, the W. A. C. Bennett Dam became one of the biggest earth-filled dams in the world stretching 183 metres tall, 800 metres wide, by two kilometres long (). When finished, the dam incorporated one of the largest hydroelectric generating stations. Components are located as far as below ground and includes 10 generating units located deep underground in the powerhouse. The Main powerhouse structure is named the G.M. Shrum generating station. It was designed to resemble a giant transformer to reflect its function and modern design of the 1960s.