United States v. State of Alaska

This appeal grows out of an action by the United States to quiet title to the lands under Tustumena Lake, located in the southern half of the Kenai Moose Range in Alaska, in which action the state of Alaska and certain of its oil and gas lessees are parties defendant. All parties filed motions for summary judgment. All agree that the relevant facts are not in dispute. The trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of appellees on the ground that the land under the lake passed to the state of Alaska on its admission to the Union.

The events leading up to this litigation may be briefly summarized as follows: The Territory of Alaska was ceded by Russia to the United States in the Treaty of March 13, 1867. On December 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by Executive Order No. 8979, 6 Fed.Reg. 6471, established the Kenai National Moose Range as a Wildlife Refuge Area. The Order, withdrawing an area of approximately 2,000,000 acres, was promulgated for the purpose of protecting the natural breeding and feeding range of the giant Kenai moose on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. The Order withdrew all of the areas of land and water of the United States lying on the northwest…