Dear Mad'mDear Madam is the autobiographical story of Stella Walthall Patterson of her experience living alone, after age 80, with her dog Vicki on her mining claim on the Klamath River in the Siskiyou Mountains, near Happy Camp, California. She had until then lived a comfortable life in San Francisco, as a teacher, writer, and artist, but when her doctor told her she had "young legs" and good health, she vowed to spend one full year on her remote mining claim