 The Plume and Atwood Dam in Thomaston, completed in 1960 following the Great Flood of 1955, creates a reservoir on the river and is the last barrier to salmon and trout migrating up from the sea.Various Algonquian bands, often included in the Wappinger tribe, originally inhabited the Naugatuck River Valley.In fact, the name "Naugatuck" is derived from an Algonquian term meaning "lone tree by the fishing place".