WHEREAS, The Esselen people have been indigenous to the Greater Monterey County area for more than 10,000 years and from their known ancestral tribal villages from the coast and inland, the Esselen people hunted, traded, and lived peacefully together, and are known today as the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation; and
WHEREAS, The Esselen people lived from Big Sur on the Pacific Coast to the Pajaro River to Fremont Peak to Salinas and the Pinnacles caves, across the fertile valley to Arroyo Seco, up to Monterey, Carmel, and back to Big Sur, where they built a vibrant, healthy, and culturally rich society; and
WHEREAS, For generations, their ancestors maintained strong family and kinship ties through tribal and family gatherings, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and other family events. Their cultural ties have
bound their tribe and families for generation after generation; and
WHEREAS, Since the arrival of Europeans, California Indians have endured a long and well-documented history of change forced by assimilation and discrimination; and
WHEREAS, The Esselen people were forced from their ancestral lands and into starvation and illness; to survive they hid in local mountains and canyons known today as Palo Colorado, Ventana Wilderness, Arroyo Seco, Tassajara, Pinnacles, Chualar Canyon, Prunedale Canyon, Corral de Tierra, Fort Ord, Santa Lucia, and El Portero; and
WHEREAS, In 1883, the Esselen people were formally recognized by Special Agents Helen Hunt Jackson and Abbott Kinney of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and in 1906 were placed under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C., and became known as the Monterey Band of Monterey County specifically identifying
Tom Santos Miranda and his family; and
WHEREAS, Frequent communication was vital to tribal society. Esselen ancestors developed roads by following deer trails and creek beds from coastal villages to inland villages and families and their most used route is known today as State Highway Route 68; and
WHEREAS; State Highway Route 68 was later used by Spaniards, Padre Junipero Serra, the Juan DeAnza Expedition, Los Californios, and most recently by tourists traveling from mission to mission, or to the Pebble Beach Golf Course, the racetrack located at Laguna Seca, and Fort Ord; now, therefore, be it