Double Ditch State Historic Site - Bismarck, ND
Posted by: 
lazyCachers
N 46° 56.048 W 100° 53.828
14T E 355593 N 5199591
Located 17 miles north of Bismarck, North Dakota on Highway 1804.
Waymark Code: WM3Y0W
Location: North Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 06/02/2008
Views: 35
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.
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.
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