Cite as: 521 U. S. 1 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
Survey in reserving Utah Lake, taken together with 1890 Act providing that reservoir sites selected by the Geological Survey "shall remain segregated and reserved from entry or settlement," signaled Congress' ratification of the reservation of the lake bed; rejecting claim on the ground that Congress was not on notice that the Geological Survey had reserved the bed of the lake); Holden v. Joy, 17 Wall. 211, 247 (1872) (rejecting Property Clause challenge to President's treaty with Cherokee Nation; although terms of treaty exceeded express delegation of authority by Congress to the President, Congress had "repeatedly recognized" the validity of the treaty by enacting appropriation statutes). As discussed supra, at 38-41, the 1923 Executive Order reflected a clear intent to include submerged lands within the Reserve. That instrument placed Congress on notice that the President had construed his reservation authority to extend to submerged lands and had exercised that authority to set aside uplands and submerged lands in the Reserve to secure a source of oil for the Navy. Congress acknowledged the United States' ownership of and jurisdiction over the Reserve in § 11(b) of the Statehood Act. Accordingly, Congress ratified the inclusion of submerged lands within the Reserve, whether or not it had intended the President's reservation authority under the Pickett Act to extend to such lands.
D
In sum, we conclude that the United States retained ownership of submerged lands beneath certain coastal features within the Reserve at Alaska's statehood. Under the strict standards of Utah Div. of State Lands, the Executive Order of 1923 reflected a clear intent to include submerged lands within the Reserve. In addition to the fact that the Order refers to coastal features and necessarily covers the tide-lands, excluding submerged lands beneath the coastal features would have been inconsistent with the purpose of the Reserve—to secure a supply of oil that would necessarily
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