The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) has been around longer than St. Louis County has existed. The plan (originally developed by Thomas Jefferson) was to survey the entire country in a grid system, creating six-mile square townships, and then subdivide each township into one-mile squares. Every half mile, a monument was set to mark a corner. These original surveyors established the corners predominantly with wood posts and then blazed and scribed nearby trees as a reference (bearing trees) in case the original wood posts were ever destroyed. After the original corner was set and accepted by the Surveyor Generals Office, the corner's position is fixed and unchangeable. Once the survey was complete, a plat map was created and utilized for the sale of property from the US Government to private owners. The original public land survey plats and corners are official legal land records for Minnesota. Today, virtually all real property title in Minnesota is based, directly or indirectly, upon the landmarks and records of the United States Public Land Survey System, aka the US Government Survey.

Today, our job is to maintain the numerous records and perpetuate the original positions of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) throughout St. Louis County. We also provide land surveying services to a variety of county departments, including Public Works, Land and Minerals, the Auditors Office, Recorder, Title Examiners and Attorney's Office to name a few. For developers and professional surveyor's, we review and approve plats, common interest community (CIC), and registered land surveys (RLS). For land owners, we assist with general land survey boundary issues and document research.

Minnesota requires that all boundary surveys be performed by or under the supervision of a Minnesota licensed surveyor (Chapter 326 of Minnesota State Statutes).

Private land owners in need of surveying services must contact a private licensed land surveyor to have a boundary survey of their land. The County Surveyor office does not conduct private land surveys for property owners within St. Louis County. Below is a list of Licensed Surveyors that have requested to be identified as performing surveys in St. Louis County. For your convenience, a printable version of this list maybe be downloaded, Licensed Land Surveyors in St. Louis County - For Print (PDF).