This area is the traditional territory of the Mowachaht and Muchalaht people of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation. Commander John Buttle, for whom Buttle Lake is named, first explored the area in the 1860s. In 1890, the British Columbia government conducted a survey to define the boundaries of the E&N Railway land grant. The grant, given to Robert Dunsmuir's company in exchange for the construction of the railway, extended from Muir Creek, near Sooke at the southern end of Vancouver Island, in a straight line to Crown Mountain. All of the land between that line and the east coast of Vancouver Island was included in the grant. The line that formed the west boundary of the grant became the east boundary of Strathcona Park when it was created in 1911. Although originally planned to reach Campbell River, the railway was never constructed past Courtenay. At the time of the grant, the area within the present park boundaries was considered unexplored.