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(43 O.S.C. § 1601, et seq.) differed s i g n i f i c a n t l y from the claims of native Hawaiians. 195/ Non-Indian settlement of the western United States followed a t h r e e - s t e p p a t t e r n . First, the land was acquired by t r e a t y from the sovereign entity—France, Spain, Mexico, Great Britain, or Russia— claiming t i t l e . Second, some lands in the acquired t e r r i t o r y were set aside for Indians. Third, the public land laws, which allowed people to enter i n t o the acquired t e r r i t o r i e s and s e t t l e thereon, were extended to a l l federally-owned land in the acquired t e r r i t o r y , except land that had been s p e c i f i c a l l y reserved for governmental purposes, such as Indian reservations. In Alaska, however, only the f i r st and third steps occurred. 196/ After the United States acquired t i t l e from Russia, the public land laws were extended to Alaska without there having been any effort by the United States to define Alaska Native rights to use land or set aside land for t h e i r exclusive use. However, as Congress extended the various public land laws to Alaska, it provided that nothing in the laws should be deemed to affect Alaska Native occupancy. In general, this meant that land actually occupied by an Alaska Native or a native group or village could not be acquired by a non-native under the public land laws. However, it has generally been held that a non-native could acquire t i t l e to vacant land that was subject to native "aboriginal" occupancy, rather than actual occupancy. 197/ When Alaska became a s t a t e, Congress authorized the State to s e l e c t vast areas of federal land for i t s own use. 198/ The selection of land had to be approved by the Secretary of the I n t e r i o r ; however, he could give " t e n t a t i v e approval" to the S t a t e selection pending his final approval and issuance of a patent. Once the State had received " t e n t a t i ve approval," it could "conditionally" lease or s e l l the land to third p a r t i e s . Another provision of the Statehood Act, however, required the State of Alaska to disclaim any i n t e r e s t in land that "may be held by any Indians, Eskimos, or Aleuts." Further, the Statehood Act provided that none of i t s provisions could be construed to "recognize, deny, enlarge, or impair any claim against the United S t a t e s " [emphasis added] and that the resolution of any native land rights would be left to future l e g i s l a t i o n by Congress. The Statehood Act thus had an i r r e c o n c i l a b l e c o n f l i c t . Unlike the a c t s that extended the public land laws to Alaska but protected the lands natives actually occupied, the Statehood Act prohibited the State from s e l e c t i n g any lands that "might" be held by natives or even claimed by n a t i v e s . Congress probably intended to protect lands that the natives used and occupied in an aboriginal manner from State selection, but no one was sure what those lands were or the extent of any native claim. The State did select some lands and received t e n t a t i v e approvals from the Secretary. The State then leased these lands to oil companies, which discovered oil on them. When oil was discovered, the native groups claimed aboriginal t i t l e to the land. The Secretary of the I n t e r i o r then issued a land freeze preventing the State from receiving further tentative approvals of i t s selections pending resolution of the native claims. Moreover, Congress, in the Statehood Act, had reserved for i t s e l f the exclusive authority of defining native land rights through future l e g i s l a t i o n , so resolution by lawsuit was d i f f i c u l t . This impasse led to the enactment of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which, for the f i r s t time in Alaska, defined the land r i g h t s of the natives and allowed the S t a t e to select its land from the federal lands not set aside for the natives by the Settlement Act. 350