Sidney resident Arthur Kah prospers
Others were content to seek employment in the frontier towns that had sprung up, caring for the miners and the gold they found. All the gold was handled by an assayer, who 'smelted' the gold ore. Sidney native Arthur Kah was the assayer in Nome, Alaska. An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in February 1917 featured Kah's work. He came to Alaska directly after graduating from Ohio State University. At the time of the article, he was processing two million dollars of gold each year. The Shelby County Democrat reported in October 1903 that the largest nugget ever found was located on a claim partly owned by Kah. It was eight inches long, five inches wide, and weighed 182 ounces.

Despite the harsh conditions, some women were part of the stampede. Some were employed weighing the gold in the camps, while others provided laundry services or told fortunes for the miners.

The gold fields were also fertile ground for con artists. The Sidney Daily News carried a story in its March 20, 1900, edition about a miner who was stuck with a claim that had little value. He paid the gold commissioner $6,000 for the 10% royalty the law required be paid- far more than was really due. The miner hung around the commissioner's office, and soon encountered an Englishman wanting to purchase a claim. Believing that no one would pay more royalty than was really due, the Englishman offered $150,000 for the claim, which the miner readily accepted.