This information is from a handout -"Family & Community History" provided by the Provincial Archives of Manitoba, September 1998.

The following records are located at the:

Provincial Archives of Manitoba,
200 Vaughan Street,
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
R3C 1T5
Phone: 204-945-3971
E-mail: govrecs@chc.gov.mb.ca
Web site: http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/index.html

Historic Holders Index Finding Aid
Consists of : Crown Land Registry System index to people who obtained patent to Crown land through homestead entry, purchase, or grant. Provides legal description of the land, acreage, type of holding, date of entry and date of patent. The index is created by Manitoba Natural Resources, Crown Lands Branch and is based on the General Registers listed above and current Crown land information.

Arrangement: By name and by legal description
Availability : Microfiche copy in Research Room (updated annually)

Homestead Files (c.1870-1930)
Consists of: Department of Interior files, on microfilm, documenting the administration of Dominion lands made available for settlement, through homestead entry, sale, grant and pre-emption. Includes applications, inspectors' reports, and correspondence. Naturalization and citizenship documents may be included. Applicants who did not obtain patent are also recorded.

Arrangement: Legal description.
List Number: GR 2060

Township General Registers (c.1870-1930)
Consists of: Registers maintained in the Department of Interior providing names of homesteaders and dates of the transactions. Includes names of patentees as well as those who did not obtain patent.

Arrangement: Legal description,
List Number: GR 2133

Are you unsure of your ancestors legal description of their land? That is their section, township and range?

National Archives – Dominion Land Grants
This specialty database relates exclusively to Letters Patent issued by the Lands Patent Branch of the Department of the Interior. The records refer to grants issued in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the railway belt of British Columbia, c. 1870-1930. You can search by Section/Township / Range / Meridian or by name. The search provides the National Archives File Reel number.

What type of land did your ancestor actually settle on? These documents provide a more graphic picture of where they lived.

Surveyors Notebooks (1869-1983)
Consists of: Field notes compiled by Dominion and Provincial Land Surveyors, recording mainly technical data and natural features of the land.

Arrangement: Numerical order. There is an index by legal description.
List Numbers: GR 160 1; GR 2630; GR 2884

Consists of: Department of Interior cadastral plans which portray natural features of the land and record names of patentees and patent numbers.

Arrangement: Legal description.
List Numbers: Township Plans GR 2404; Parish Plans GR 2405

This department of the Manitoba Government  keeps all records of land ownership and survey plans. In Manitoba they provide a registry where interests in land (such as a mortgage or caveat) are recorded. 

They can be reached:
General Inquiries (Winnipeg)
Address: Lower level, 405 Broadway
Winnipeg, MB R3C 3L6

Phone: (204) 945-2042
Fax: (204) 948-2140
Email: landtitles@cca.gov.mb.ca

Land Records Source - excerpts from pages 5-7:
Family and Community History Handout
Selected Manitoba Government Records
Provincial Archives of Manitoba
September, 1998