Blog · October 14, 2026 · North Dakota
Using a Towner County Plat Book today
Out toward Cando, plat books show ownership by township; the parcel viewer shows it today.
Main page: Towner County, ND GIS & Parcel Viewer (official map link, county facts and neighboring maps).
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Looking for a Towner County plat book? It's a printed atlas of landownership, usually by township, and it's handy for land around Rock Lake National Wildlife Refuge. In this Towner County guide: how the atlas is organized, where to find editions, and how the county viewer fills the gaps.
Getting started with the Towner County plat book
For acreage around Perth, a plat book is a privately published atlas, that map ownership across the countryside, often organized by township.
Where the parcel data lives
Go first to the North Dakota Parcel Viewer; it includes each tax parcel around Maza and Brumba National Wildlife Refuge. Out toward Brumba National Wildlife Refuge, put in a street address, an owner's name or a parcel number, and the matching parcel lights up. If the land is near Hansboro, save the parcel ID before closing the panel; every records desk in the county will want it.
Getting answers from the right desk
Recorded documents for a parcel near Bisbee sit in the index kept by the County Recorder, usually searchable by name or document number. Zoning, permits and septic questions near Sarles are for the local planning and health departments, and the answer depends on jurisdiction.
Backing up the map with records
With a lot near Hansboro, the map is an index, not the title: recorded deeds, plats and easements for parcels in the county sit with the County Recorder. In and around Cando, bring the document number shown in the record panel to skip a name search.
When a parcel crosses a boundary
Towner County meets Benson County, Cavalier County, Pierce County, Ramsey County, and Rolette County; every one of them runs a separate parcel map. Acreage along the edge near Rocklake may show up in two county records, so look at the neighboring map before you assume the acreage. On ground around Egeland, our state page lists every neighboring county map for North Dakota.
Getting your bearings
Cando serves as the county seat, where most land records are kept. Other places on the map include Bisbee, Egeland, Hansboro, and Perth. Around 2,030 people call Towner County home (Census estimate, 2023) across about 1,025 square miles. Towner County was organized in 1883, so old deeds can run back a long way. Features like Brumba National Wildlife Refuge are easy to spot when you zoom out.
A homemade atlas
Screenshot each section of the viewer around Cando and keep them in a binder for the truck.
Reading the legal description
North Dakota is laid out under the Public Land Survey System, so deeds around Brumba National Wildlife Refuge reference sections and townships. Each section is nominally a mile square, about 640 acres, with 36 sections to a township, though corrections make some sections near Rock Lake National Wildlife Refuge odd-sized. Write down the legal description for the tract near Bisbee when you talk to a surveyor.
Taking the map into the field
Most viewers work in a phone browser, handy when you're parked on a road near Rocklake, so load it before you lose signal. A saved image of the lot near Maza and its lines keeps working without signal.
Why people still buy them
Buyers and seed dealers around Sarles rely on them to see ownership across many tracts at once.
Editions and availability
Libraries near Bisbee sometimes keep past atlases, useful for family or title research.
Limits of the parcel data
For acreage around Rocklake, listed acreage is a tax-roll number; just a licensed surveyor establishes the real lines on the ground. Owner names and values update on a schedule, so a fresh transfer around Bisbee may not show yet.
Current ownership online
Closer to Cando, the North Dakota Parcel Viewer is updated more often than any atlas, across the county.
Two kinds of plat
Don't confuse the atlas with a recorded subdivision plat: recorded plats near Egeland are filed with the County Recorder, and the atlas is just a guide.
Frequently asked
How do I research old landowners around Bisbee?
In and around Rocklake, libraries and historical societies hold older editions.
How accurate are plat book acreages for land near Rock Lake National Wildlife Refuge?
In most cases, atlas drawings near Agate are simplified.
Is there a current Towner County plat book?
Usually, editions come and go.
Can I use a plat book for a boundary near Rock Lake National Wildlife Refuge?
For acreage around Maza, recorded plats are legal documents at the County Recorder, and plat books are references; use a surveyor for lines.
What's a legal description near Maza?
In and around Sarles, deeds use lot and block, metes and bounds or survey descriptions; copy it for any survey or title request.
Open the official Towner County, ND parcel map See it in the Platbookmapper directory
Not a survey. County GIS and tax parcel maps are assessment and planning layers. They are not a substitute for a recorded plat, deed, or licensed survey, especially for fences, setbacks, or boundary disputes.