Downloadable maps from the original US Government land surveys of Burntside Lake are publically available. These surveys were begun in 1881. Subsequent surveys corrected errors and added islands that were not included in the early work. These maps describe lots which were sold to early settlers as homesteads. In later years some of these lots were subdivided into parcels for sale as lakeshore parcels. Plat maps visually set out the surveyed boundaries of cabin parcels on the lake. The Public Land Survey and Plat Maps are available below.

"The original public land survey plats were created during the first government land survey of the state.  They serve as fundamental legal records for real estate, as an essential resource for surveyors, and as an analytical tool for the state’s physical geography prior to European settlement.  These plats are the official legal land records for Minnesota and all property titles and descriptions stem from them." The first survey in 1881 mapped the Burntside Lake area into square areas ("townships") measuring six miles east and west and north and south. Therefore, there are 36 square mile sections in each map. They are numbered from 1 to 36, beginning with the northeast corner and proceeding west and east alternately through the township.

Almost all of Burntside is contained in one map, enumerated in Minnesota as T63N, R13W (Township 63 North, Range 13 West). Three additional survey maps cover the remainder of the lake as follows: westernmost end: T63N, R14W, easternmost end: T63N, R12W, northernmost:T64N, R13W.

In 1902, and then from 1922 to 1925 additional surveys were conducted to include islands not previously established, or to correct island locations that were either nonexistent or incorrect. Most of these resurveys were in the west end of Burntside.

These following maps were downloaded as PDF files from the US Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records. US Government Land Office from this web site: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ A wealth of information can be found there, including scans of the original Federal Land Patents for the transfer of properties from the Federal Government to the first private landowner. The State of Minnesota maintains a web site which provides access, in some cases easier access, to these survey maps and field notes made by the first surveyors: http://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/glo/. In the following table click on the highlighted map name to begin download. These PDF format land survey maps are several megabytes in size.