In the dimly lit studio/workshop, with the intention of beginning an inventory, on her second visit, Caydance was alone. The architecture firm, where Mei Chen was a junior partner, was not employed to investigate a mysterious hidden studio attached to the lobby of the Hotel California Trail.
Beside the Art Institute's 1913 catalog of William Keith's paintings, on the studio desk lay a golden mustard cloth-bound book. On its cover, underneath the title, The Argonauts of California, in the foreground a solitary miner walked into the future, bearing a shovel and gold panning equipment. In the background, in the mountains of California, beneath a dark lake, beside a deep ravine, a man danced with a bear. Caydance opened the book. Observing the author's name, C. W. Haskins, and the publication date, 1890, she began to read:
“...in the silver mining regions of northern Idaho during the winter of ’87-’88, and being compelled to remain within doors in consequence of the great depth of snow and intense cold, in order to pass away the time I amused myself by writing an account of scenes and incidents that occurred in California in early days in the mining regions. These events are written entirely from memory..."