Kodiak aquired alot of the land from Prospectors who held claims in the area. There were a ton of news releases regarding the aquisition of these parcels some subject to cash payments and other royalty agreements based upon the future development of these properties. They also partnered with Alto Ventures due to the proximity of each others claims.

Kodiak was ahead of the pack in most of their staking. The heavy glacial overburden in the area discouraged most from investigating the area, but once Kodiak made their initial discoveries. It only made sense to aquire as much land as possible, a common practise to create a buffer.

It wasn't a matter of most thinking nothing was there it was a matter of visibility of the structures underlaying the overburden. It was Kodiak's discovery of a potential gold system that set the area into a staking rush. Even though companies like Sage and Ontex and a few others were already there.