Algonquin Park has long been Ontario's best-known park. Established in 1893, it was the country's first provincial park, intended from its inception for multi-purposes. It prohibited settlement but promoted recreation, it protected forests but continued to cut them, it preserved wildlife but allowed fishing and sometimes hunting. To the credit of the original planners, the park has meant so much to so many; from the industries that thrived there, to the naturalists who loved it, to the artists who interpreted it. The park's efforts to meet a multitude of objectives have not always been successful. In the end, these efforts have created a history that is not only rich with an understanding of the meaning of parks, the notion of wilderness, and the question of balance in nature, but also a history that is rich in mystique, mythology, and tests of the human spirit.