eventually--she drank, also, an awful lot. Today she is an alcoholic--poor girl.

Mr. Jenner.

You entered the oil consulting business in Denver?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. First of all, as just an ordinary consultant. I got helped by a friend of mine who has a small oil company in Denver.

Mr. Jenner.

What was his name?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Jimmy Donahue. And he facilitated by giving his office, the secretary and so on. Because it is rather expensive to start on your own.
But very soon afterwards I started getting consulting jobs--doing evaluations on the wells and things like that. And one night--this will be interesting for you, how to start an oil business--one night I was driving through Oklahoma, tired as hell, and I said to myself, by God, everybody is making money in the oil business except me, I am just a flunky here for all these big operators--I should go in the oil business on my own, really in the oil business, drilling and producing, which was interesting to me. And then I recalled that my exnephew, Eddie Hooker, in New York, asked me to go in business with him. He had visited me in Colorado and was very much interested in the work I had done. I gave him a telephone call from some place in Oklahoma.
I said, "Eddie, how about it?"
He was working for Merrill Lynch at the time.
And he said, "George, I am ready. I am tired of Merrill Lynch."

Mr. Jenner.

Merrill Lynch, Fenner and Beane at that time?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. "I am tired of that Merrill Lynch, Fenner and Beane."
We formed a limited partnership together.

Mr. Jenner.

And that is the partnership of Hooker and De Mohrenschildt?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

And that was when--1950?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; I think so---1950.

Mr. Jenner.

And did it last very long?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. It lasted, I think, 3 years.

Mr. Jenner.

About 2 years?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 2 or 3 years.

Mr. Jenner.

And----
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Now, We made money, we lost money, but it was a pleasant relationship. We are still very good friends.

Mr. Jenner.

What did you do in connection with that partnership?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, I did buying of the leases, doing the drilling, and helped him in New York, also, to raise money.

Mr. Jenner.

He handled the financial end, or raising of money end?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

And you the field work?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. Sometimes--we opened an office in New York, a small office. He was in New York most of the time. I was in Denver. Our first well was a dry hole, a disastrous dry hole. But our second well was a producer. We made some production. But never anything big.

Mr. Jenner.

Now----
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Eventually I returned to Texas from Denver, because I had always retained some good friends in Texas, and they suggested, one of them who participated in our well, first venture suggested that, "George, you will do better in Texas, because Wyoming is too expensive"--a well costs $200,000 or $300,000 in Wyoming, you know--in Wyoming or Colorado.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, when you were in partnership with Mr. Hooker, your field work and discovery work was in Wyoming and Colorado, is that correct?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. We started by drilling our first well in Wyoming, operating from Denver. And we had--we were snowbound there, we paid the rig time for a hell of a long time. To make the story short, our first venture was quite a failure. One of the reasons we finally split partnership with Eddie Hooker is that he is a very wealthy boy. He comes from a very wealthy family. And he wanted the oil business to make millions.
My reason to be in the oil business is to make a reasonable living, and eventually build up some production.