About eight miles north of Bismarck is a bluff on which the Mandan Indians once had a thriving village called Double Ditch Village, which is designated as a significant historic site. Double Ditch overlooks the Missouri River. It was made up of at least 150 earthlodges that used a sturdy architectural system unique to the Mandan, Hidatsas and Arikaras. These lodges were dome-shaped, made of logs and earth that could house families of eight to twenty people. The size of an earthlodge was usually