find the lagoon, and had a long stage before he found water. His party
arrived at Menzies shortly before we started. I was unable to get any
information from him beyond the opinion that the country was worthless
and a stock route impracticable. I put more faith, however, in Breaden,
whose life has been spent amongst stock and travelling cattle. When with
Carr-Boyd he came to the conclusion that as far as the Warburton Range
cattle could be taken without much trouble; and indeed in 1873, so I have
read, Gosse drove some bullocks as far as that point, which was the
furthest west he penetrated when attempting to cross the Colony.

From the Warburton Range to Lake Wells the awkward part came in, but now
this lagoon and the Empress Spring go far to bridge it over. I have no
doubt that a fortnight's work at both these places would be sufficient to
make splendid wells, supposing that the lagoon was found dry and the
spring too hard to get at. At the expenditure of no great amount I feel
confident that a serviceable stock route could be formed, easily
negotiated in the winter months and kept open by wells during the rest of
the year. The country through which the route would pass is excellent as
far as the border. From there it would be necessary to hit off the small
oases which are met with near Mount Squires, Warburton Ranges, Blyth
Creek, and Alexander Spring. From this point the route could be taken to
Empress Spring, thence to Lake Wells (or direct to Lake Wells) and the
Bonython Creek, and from there to Lake Darlot there would be no
difficulty. The only really bad bit of the route would be between
Woodhouse Lagoon and Lake Wells, and this is no great distance. Whether
the scheme would be worth the expenditure necessary to equip a really
serviceable well-sinking party I am unable to judge; but it seems to me
that it would be a tremendous advantage to Central Australian cattle
owners to be able to drive their bullocks direct to the West Australian
goldfields, even though they could only do so in the winter, at which