North Dakota Land Records
This entry was originally written by Beth H. Bauman and Marsha Hoffman Rising, CG, FUGA, FASG for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
North Dakota is a Public-Domain State.
The State Archives and Historical Research Library holds a few original records of the General Land Office (GLO) for North Dakota and a microfilmed copy of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) original tract books and survey plats (see North Dakota Archives, Libraries, and Societies). The North Dakota Water Commission, State Office Building, 900 E. Blvd. Ave., Bismarck, ND 58505, maintains original township plats although patents and copies of tract books and plats are located at the BLM, P.O. Box 222, Billings, MT 59107. To search land patents, use the BLM website www.glorecords.blm.gov.
After initial purchase, the records of transfer of land at the county level remain in the office of the register of deeds. Most land records in North Dakota are extant at the county level from the time the county was organized.