1,000 Animals Traditional Cache
Sapience Trek: Hello Adksarah -
As the issues with this cache have not been resolved, I must regretfully archive it.
Please note that if geocaches are archived by a reviewer or Geocaching HQ for lack of maintenance, they are not eligible for unarchival.
Sapience Trek
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This cache is located at what was once the site of 1000 Animals, home to the Sterling Alaska Fur and Game Farms and St. Nick’s Animals. Joseph S. Sterling, born in New Jersey in 1878 moved to Alaska in 1904, where he prospected for gold, ran a steamship line and operated trading posts. He then came to northern NY in 1915, and established a show farm in Lake Placid (there was another at Ausable Chasm). It was a major tourist attraction in the 1930s, and survived until 1976. At one side of the main entrance in the front of the building, there were two high platforms, where three black bears would climb high to the top of a platform to retrieve food placed in buckets by visitors. The bears used pulleys to haul up the buckets. Entertainment inside the building consisted of observation areas, a large petting zoo, rides in carts pulled by llamas and a chimpanzee named “Mike the Chimpion,” who also drove a go-kart and rode a tricycle. The animals for many years were well cared for by keeper and trainer Peter Tumbilis. Joseph Sterling died in 1959, but his wife, Martha, carried on, until her death. Mrs. Sterling was an elegant lady and I can say I personally knew her as a child. She sold furs in a shop at the side of the building. Her home was to the right of the park. Now, here is something for you: The people who live here say they have seen mink still living in the woods, a continuation from this amazing piece of history.
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