| Naugatuck River | |
|---|---|
 Naugatuck River in Oakville from Whitestone Cliffs Trail road walk over Frost Bridge - CT Route 262 | |
 | |
| Native name | Neggutuck (Algonquin)[2] |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Connecticut |
| Region | Litchfield County andNew Haven County |
| Cities | Torrington,Litchfield,Harwinton,Thomaston,Watertown,Waterbury,Naugatuck,Beacon Falls,Seymour,Ansonia,Derby |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Confluence of West and East Branches Naugatuck River inTorrington, Connecticut |
| • coordinates | 41°47′49″N073°07′00″W / 41.79694°N 73.11667°W /41.79694; -73.11667[3] |
| • elevation | 526 ft (160 m)[4] |
| Mouth | Confluence withHousatonic River |
• location | Derby, Connecticut |
• coordinates | 41°18′49″N073°04′50″W / 41.31361°N 73.08056°W /41.31361; -73.08056[3] |
• elevation | 3 ft (0.91 m)[3] |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | East Branch Naugatuck River, Leadmine Brook, Spruce Brook,Hancock Brook,Mad River, Hockanum Brook, Bladens River |
| • right | West Branch Naugatuck River, Northfield Brook, Branch Brook,Steele Brook, Hop Brook,Little River, Long Meadow Pond Brook[5] |
TheNaugatuck River is a 40.2-mile-long (64.7 km)[4]river in theU.S. state ofConnecticut. Its waters carve out theNaugatuck River Valley in the western reaches of the state, flowing generally due south and eventually emptying into theHousatonic River atDerby, Connecticut, and thence 11 miles (18 km) toLong Island Sound. The Plume and Atwood Dam inThomaston, completed in 1960 following theGreat Flood of 1955, creates areservoir on the river and is the last barrier to salmon and trout migrating up from the sea.[6]
VariousAlgonquian bands, often included in theWappinger 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". One early 19th-century author explained that this name originally referred to a specific tree along the river in the area of modern-dayBeacon Falls,[7] but came to be applied broadly to the entire river over time.[1] The valley was later settled in the 17th century byEnglish colonists. Given its rocky soil, which was not good for farming, and the high potential for water power, the Naugatuck Valley became an industrialized area in the 19th century. It has been associated with thebrass and copper industries.
After winding through rural forested areas, the two branches of the Naugatuck River enter downtownTorrington and join just north of East Albert Street at about 530 feet (160 m) above sea level.[8] The East Branch of the Naugatuck River is 11.4 miles (18.3 km) long[4] and originates inWinchester as a tributary of Lake Winchester at an elevation of about 1,250 feet (380 m).[9] The West Branch, 5.9 miles (9.5 km) long,[4] begins at the confluence of Jakes Brook, Hart Brook and Hall Meadow Brook in the western part of Torrington, at an elevation of 800 feet (240 m).[10]
From this point on, the Naugatuck River has been followed by early paths and roadways and is now followed byConnecticut Route 8. The river enters a forested, hilly area betweenConnecticut Route 118 andThomaston. The largely industrialized cities of theNaugatuck River Valley were developed on each side of the river, with periodic sections of forested areas, before it enters the Housatonic River atDerby, at about 3 feet (0.91 m) above sea level.[3]
From the early 19th century, when towns along the Naugatuck River began industrializing and dumping industrial waste and sewage into its waters, it gradually gained a reputation as "Connecticut's dirtiest river."[11] Cleanup efforts from the 1980s into the 2000s were successful in removing much of the most obvious contamination. However, occasional sewage spills continued to occur, and a 2017 study identified the presence ofphthalates in the river.[12] The Naugatuck is not used as a source of human drinking water.
As part of the Housatonic River watershed, the Naugatuck River historically hosted the southernmostAtlantic salmon (Salmo salar) migrations.[13] Historical runs ofanadromous fish also included nativeAmerican shad (Alosa sapidissima, Connecticut's state fish),alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) andblueback herring (Alosa aestivalis). Dam construction for hydropower, cooling and rinse water, and boiler water for industry began circa 1763 and continued during the industrial revolution of the 1800s. These dams, as well as wastewater from the towns that grew up around factories along the river, contributed to the extirpation of many species of fish. Over time and with the closing of many of the factories, the dams ceased to provide hydropower or serve any other economic purpose. The Anaconda Dam (Waterbury), Freight Street Dam (Waterbury), Union City Dam (Naugatuck) and the Platts Mill Dam (Naugatuck) were removed in 1999, while the Kinneytown Dam was bypassed with a fish ladder that same year. The Chase Brass Dam, between Waterbury and Thomaston, was removed in 2004.[6] A fish bypass channel, the first of its kind in New England, now permits fish to migrate past the Tingue Dam and opens an additional 32 miles (51 km) of the river to anadromous fish migration.[14] The installation of the fish bypass on the Tingue Dam in Seymour leaves only the Plume and Atwood Dam in Thomaston as the last barrier on the river to fish migration.[6]
TheState of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) stocks surplusAtlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from the Connecticut River restoration effort in the Naugatuck River each fall.[15] DEEP also stocks severalsalmonid species including nativebrook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and non-native sea-runbrown trout (Salmo trutta) andrainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
The Naugatuck River is a popular destination for fishing innorthwestern Connecticut, though not on the same scale as theFarmington orHousatonic rivers. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection stocks the river with broodstockAtlantic Salmon between Route 118 inHarwinton/Litchfield and the Thomaston Dam, and from southernNaugatuck toBeacon Falls.[16] The Naugatuck has atrout management area between Route 118 and the Thomaston Dam. It is considered a "trophy trout stream" the rest of its length between the confluence of the East and West Branches and the Kinneytown Dam inSeymour.[17]
Landmarks of note associated with the Naugatuck includeReynolds Bridge, an open-spandrel concrete arch bridge in Thomaston which carries Waterbury Road over the river. Built in 1928, the crossing is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.
