To improve the thickening ability and crosslinkingperformance of cellulose，widen its application in fracturing fluid field，a new kind of hydrophobic etherifying agent（3-chloro -2-hydroxypropylerucylamideammonium acetate was prepared to modify carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose （CMHEC）. Hydrophobic erucamidopropyl dimethylamine carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose （ED-CMHEC） was first prepared. The rheological and crosslinking experiments of CMHEC and ED-CMHEC were carried out. The results showed that ED-CMHEC solutions exhibited higher viscosities，more apparent thixotropy and viscoelasticity，compared to CMHEC solution. At the mass fraction of 0.3% ，the viscosity of CMHEC and ED-CMHEC solutions at the temperature of 30℃ and at the shearing rate of 170 s^-1were 18.0 mPa·s and 71 mPa·s，respectively. The shear thinning behaviors of CMHEC and ED-CMHEC solutions at different concentrations could be well described by Cross model. Under the same crosslinking conditions that the dosage of zirconium organic crosslinker was 0.2%，the viscosity of gel formed by 0.3% ED-CMHEC solution was 2.4 times than that by 0.3% CMHEC solution，which indicated that ED-CMHEC had a stronger crosslinking performance.