Near Harmon in Burleigh County, North Dakota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Early Maps Illustrating Double Ditch
Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, July 22, 2025
1. Early Maps Illustrating Double Ditch Marker
Captions: (upper center) A portion on Map 28 of the Lewis and Clark Expedition showing the location of Double Ditch Village and other nearby abandoned villages near the mouth of Heart River.; (lower center) Village sites identified by Wounded Face and Goodbird near the Heart and Missouri River Confluence.; (middle right) A portion of the 1907 Sitting Rabbit map showing Yellow Bank Village, now called Double Ditch.; (bottom right, three portraits L to R) Wounded Face, Goodbird, Sitting Rabbit.
Inscription.
As early as 1804, this village was noted by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition through this area.. Captain Clark wrote in his journal entry of October 22, 1804:
passed 2 old villages at the mouth of a large Creek L.S, [Hunting Creek] and a 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, It enters the Missouri River from the west.
In 1910, anthropologist Gilbert Wilson illustrated a map first drawn by Wounded Face, a Mandan, who consulted about map features with Goodbird, a Hidatsa. Considered a talented draftsman, Goodbird then resketched the map in more accurate proportion. Double Ditch is labeled as B (Looking's Village).
In 1906, Orin G. Libby, secretary of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, commissioned Sitting Rabbit, a Mandan, to paint a map of traditional Mandan and Hidatsa
Click or scan to see this page online
sites along the Missouri. On the Sitting Rabbit map below (middle right), "Yellow Bank Village" is Double Ditch. Additional ethnographic information recorded early in the 20th century indicates Double Ditch was also known to the Mandans as Yellow Earth Village.
Erected by State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Location. 46° 56.045′ N, 100° 53.867′ W. Marker is near Harmon, North Dakota, in Burleigh County. It can be reached from State Highway 1804 at milepost 91 near Double Ditch Loop, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Dakota’s Colorado River Valley, specifically in Flagstaff & High Country, on the Mogollon Rim, in the Prescott Area, in Verde Valley, in the White Mountains, in The Valley (the San Fernando Valley), in the Inland
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, July 22, 2025
2. Early Maps Illustrating Double Ditch Marker (detail)
A portion on Map 28 of the Lewis and Clark Expedition showing the location of Double Ditch Village and other nearby abandoned villages near the mouth of Heart River.
Empire, in Silicon Valley, in the Coachella Valley, in the Colorado Desert, in the Gold Country, in the High Desert, in the Mojave Desert, in the San Bernardino Mountains, in the San Luis Valley, in the Berkshire Foothills, in the Connecticut River Valley, on the Connecticut Shoreline, on the Gold Coast, in Greater Bridgeport, in Greater Hartford, in Greater New Haven, in Greater New London, in the Knowledge Corridor, in the Litchfield Hills, in Mystic and the Eastern Shore, in the Quiet Corner, in the Thames River Valley, on Delawares Beaches, in Southern New Castle County, in the Everglades, on the Florida Keys, on Hilo and East Hawaii, on the Kona Coast, on North Shore Oahu, on Pearl Harbor and Historic West Oahu, in Upcountry Maui, in Lahaina and West Maui, on Windward Oahu, in the Quad Cities, on the Indiana Dunes and Lake Michigan Shore, in the Calumet Region, in the Spirit Lake Nation, in the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, on the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation, in the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, on the Cheyenne
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, July 22, 2025
3. Early Maps Illustrating Double Ditch Marker (detail)
Village sites identified by Wounded Face and Goodbird near the Heart and Missouri River Confluence
River Reservation, in the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, on the Kootenai Reservation, in the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, on the Wind River Indian Reservation, on the ShoshonePaiute Duck Valley Reservation, on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, in the Yankton Sioux Tribe, in the Navajo Nation, on the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation, on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation, on Nez Perce Tribal Land, in the Blackfeet Nation, in the Crow Nation, in the Flathead Nation, in the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, in the Northern Cheyenne Nation, on the Rocky Boys Reservation, in the Tohono Oodham Nation, in the White Mountain Apache Nation, in the Yavapai-Apache Nation, in the Amana Colonies, on Mount Desert Island, in the Kennebec Valley, in the Maine Highlands, in Midcoast Maine, on Penobscot Bay, on Southern Maine Coast, in the Western Maine Lakes and Mountains Region, in Greater Bangor, in Greater Portland, in the Baltimore Metro Region, in Central Maryland, in Historic Boston, on Cape Ann, on the North Shore, in the South Coast, on the South Shore, in Greater Boston, on the Straits of Mackinac, on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in Greater Duluth The Twin Ports, in Greater Billings, in the Lakes Region, in the Merrimack Valley, in North Jersey, in Central Jersey, on the Jersey Shore, in the Pine Barrens, in Piedmont Triad, on the Cape Fear Coast, on the Crystal Coast, in Greater Asheville, in Greater Charlotte, on the Outer Banks, in the Research Triangle, on the Missouri Plateau, in Greater Bismarck Area, on the Oregon Coast, in the Blackstone Valley, in Greater Providence, on Narragansett Bay, in Newport and Aquidneck Island, in Historic Charleston, on the Grand Strand, on the Sea Islands, on Waccamaw Neck, in the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Basin, in the Foothills, in Congaree Country, in Greater Burlington, in the Mid-Ohio Valley and in the Jackson Hole Area. It is also in the American Ohio River Valley, on the Colorado Plateau, in the Black Hills, in the Lewis & Clark Corridor, on the prairies, in the Chesapeake Bay Region, on the Northern Plains, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Great North Woods, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Fairfield County, Hartford County, Litchfield County, Middlesex County, New Haven County, New London County, Tolland County, Windham County, the Viceroyalty of New France,Acadia, Ruperts Land, and the Louisiana Purchase.
Credits. This page was last revised on September 15, 2025. It was originally submitted on September 14, 2025, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 96 times since then and 32 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on September 14, 2025, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. 2, 3. submitted on September 15, 2025, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
