SQUARE BUTTES, early landmarks, raise their flat-topped heights across the river near the Larson site, and dominate the landscape for the next 10 m. Their odd beauty, contrasting with the graceful slopes of surrounding hills, has appealed to both red men and white. George Catlin, the artist and explorer who spent eight years in this region more than a century ago, painted a good oil of the Square Buttes. At =22 m.= is the junction with a trail (L). Up the steep bluffs here to DOUBLE DITCH INDIAN VILLAGE STATE PARK. Archeologically designated as the Burgois site, it is also known to the Indians as the ancient Village of Yellow Clay. The inner ditch of the two from which the site receives its name is still traceable in its entire course. The journals of the early French explorer, Verendrye, tell that the village was surrounded by a rampart and protected by an 18-foot palisade and a ditch 18 ft. wide and 15 ft, deep. The cup-shaped depressions of the earth lodges, still visible, are as large as 40 ft. in diameter. Excavations made here by the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, disclosed fine specimens of agricultural implements, religious pieces, and artifacts of warfare. Positions of human skeletons found in the excavations indicate that shallow burial was the custom of the Mandans occupying the site. At =33 m.= the River Road passes through PIONEER PARK. On the flood plain of the Missouri, between BURNT CREEK and the road, a picnic and camp ground (_rustic shelters, tables, benches, chairs_) has been built among the towering cottonwood trees. At =33 m.= is a junction with a winding gravel road. Left on this road to the top of the sheer bluffs to LOOKING VILLAGE, =0.5 m.=, Mandan site named for Chief Looking. Now part of Pioneer Park, the village is known as the Ward site, and several of the earth lodges have been reconstructed under a CCC project. The natural defenses of this village were exceptional. On a level, circular summit almost completely cut off from the surrounding benchland, its eastern side was well protected by a ditch, still visible, and a wall. To the N., where the hill is less steep, a ditch and wall were also means of protection. Built-in log steps and a graded path lead up a round knoll overlooking the river. On the western slope of this formation is a large granite boulder believed to be a petroglyph, or picture rock, of some religious significance. Close observation of the rock will reveal many small, round impressions that may be a form of rock-writing known as cup sculpture. From this point, and from the parking spaces near the Indian village site, is a beautiful view up and down the Missouri.