I tracked down the 1700 pages of Ingles' interviews with John D. Rockefeller. I've just started reading, but it's fascinating to listen to Rockefeller talk in his own words, without any middleman. Consider this part about Clark, his first real partner. "He was an ignorant man, an Englishman, ten years older than I was, and he tried, almost from the beginning of our partnership, to dominate and over-ride me. A question he asked several times in our discussions of business matters was, ' What in the world would you have done without me?' I bore it in silence. It does no good to dispute with such a man. He was very angry when I borrowed money to extend our business of ‘refining oil. ‘Why, you have borrowed $100,0003' he exclaimed, as if that were some sort of offence. He had his brothers, James and William, in the oil firm of Clark & Rockefeller. They were of his sort. "We agreed, in a perfectly pleasant way, to dissolve the partnership, by paying the debts and dividing the assets, then disposing of the plant and goodwill to the highest bidder among ourselves. They had their lawyer with them. I had none. It did not seem to me that I needed one. I look back now at that day in 1865, and it seems to me one of the most important in my life. It was the day that determined my career. I felt the bigness of it, but I was as calm as I am talking with you now. I had arranged for everything; made up my mind how much I could pay for the business; I was ready. ... I did offer to give Mr. Clark, my old partner, a check for the $72,500. on the spot, but he knew how safe and reliable I was and said, "No. Settle at your convenience.’ ‘He went his way, and continued in the oil refining business. He thought, I suppose, that I was taking too great risks, but I felt sure of myself. ... It took a long time to convince him that he was wrong and I was right, but at least one day he drove out to Forest Hill. He looked up at me that day -- for the first time. ‘Why!’ he exclaimed, ‘you've grown big. You've grown up?’ You see, it took him a long time to feel that I was no longer a boy. He was beginning to go down the hill then. We bought him out finally. There was another Englishman, Scofield, whom we bought out twice. After the first sale, in spite of his promise to keep out of the oil refining business, he went into it again -- and we bought him out a second time. He, too, did not feel sure that we were going to make a success; so he sold out his stock in our Company. His children have since told mine that they never ceased to regret that he sold out. His stock with us would have been worth $16,000,000. or $20,000,000."