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Double Ditch Indian Village, overlooking the Missouri River, was a large earthlodge village inhabited by Mandan Indians between
about 1500 and 1781. The remains of earthlodges, midden mounds (trash heaps), and fortification ditches are clearly visible today.
Interpretive signs are posted throughout the site.
Captain William Clark wrote in his journal of October 22, 1804
"passed 2 old villages at the mouth of a large Creek L. S. (Hunting Creek) and Small Island at the head of which is a bad place,
and old village on the S. S. (Double Ditch) and the upper of the 6 villages the Mandans occupied about 25 years ago this village
was entirely cut off by the Sioux & one of the others nearly, the Small Pox destroyed great numbers"
[Hunting Creek today is known
as Square Butte Creek, and it enters the Missouri from the west.]
Who are the Mandans? The Mandans are one of the most well-known agricultural tribes of the Missouri Valley region. They developed a rich and elaborate culture based on farming and bison hunting. According to Mandan oral history, Double Ditch was one of seven to nine villages occupied at the same time near the mouth of the Heart River. The Mandan population in this area probably totaled 10,000 or more during this time.
Click the image above to see the artist conception of the interior and also the exterior of the earthlodges.
The Mandans, as well as the Hidatsas and Arikaras, built dome-shaped houses of logs and earth, known as
earthlodges. The men usually decided how large an earthlodge would be, and the women did most of the building. To build an
earthlodge, a wooden framework was erected, then covered with layers of willow branches, grass, and finally, earth. It took about
150 trees to build one earthlodge. Earthlodges varied from 20 to 65 feet in diameter and housed a family of
eight to twenty people. They were built close together. All that remains of the earthlodges are circular depressions.
There are about 150 of these circular depressions still visible today at Double Ditch.
Why was Double Ditch abandoned? A massive smallpox epidemic swept the interior of North America about 1780-1781. This catastrophe appears to be responsible for the abandonment of Double Ditch and all the other Mandan villages near the Heart River. By the year 1800 the Mandan population was reduced to perhaps 1,200 individuals. In 1804 Lewis and Clark were traveling upriver and observed a band of Teton Dakotas camping near the abandoned Mandan village. Native American informants told Lewis and Clark that the village had been vacant for about twenty-five years. The Mandans had moved to new villages further upriver.
Is Double Ditch Open to the public?
Double Ditch is open to the public.
Come walk the path, read the interpretive signs, and learn about the Mandan Indians.
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