It’s Only Simplot’s Second Venture Up North First Was Its Ill-Fated Involvement With Attempt To Rescue Bunker Hill Mine
The J.R. Simplot Co.’s purchase of Jacklin Seed is only the second time Idaho’s largest privately owned company has sunk money in a business enterprise north of the Salmon River.
The other time Idaho’s richest man ventured into North Idaho, then-Idaho Gov. John Evans called him a “white knight.”
But five years later - 1987 - J.R. Simplot’s attempt to be one of four businessmen to rescue the Bunker Hill mine fizzled. Idaho’s potato king retreated south, extracting himself from the partnership with Coeur d’Alene businessman Duane Hagadone, Silver Valley mining magnate Harry F. Magnuson and Jack Kendrick, an executive with Gulf Resources Ltd.
The foursome purchased the lead and zinc mine from Gulf for $15 million, with plans to resurrect the mining empire when metals prices improved.
“We’re here to stay,” Simplot told The Spokesman-Review in 1982. “The plant’s going to stand there until the rust gets it before I give up.”
Lead and zinc prices got worse. Simplot got out, as did the other partners. Court records indicate the Simplot company paid a $1.1 million settlement to Gulf after the venture unraveled.
Environmental Protection Agency contractors, not rust, took the plant down as part of cleaning up what is now one of the largest Superfund sites in the United States.
The J.R. Simplot Co. obviously has higher hopes for its acquisition of the Jacklin Seed Co. Right in line with the agricultural bent of Simplot’s empire, Simplot-Jacklin will be one of only two stand-alone companies.
SSI Food Services, which sells hamburger patties to Burger King and fajita makings to Taco Bell, is the other. Simplot acquired the Wilder, Idaho, based company five years ago, said Fred Zerza, Simplot vice president for public relations.
The Simplot-Jacklin deal has been under way for about two months, he said.
This is the largest acquisition for Simplot this year. The largest in the company’s history was the purchase of several companies from the Australian conglomerate Pacific Dunlop. Those companies have annual revenues of $450 billion.
Now 88, the patriarch of the potato plantation, stepped down as chairman of the board three years ago. Three of his children, Scott, Don and Gay, and grandson Ted now run the company.
Simplot is a near-mythic success story. He left school in the eighth grade and was a millionaire by the time he was 30, according to Forbes magazine.
He pioneered commercial processing of frozen potatoes in the 1950s and 1960s and now the company is the third-largest producer of frozen french fries in the world. He’s the richest man in Idaho, according to Forbes and Fortune magazines.
His ranching empire includes 62,000 acres of the most productive state grazing leases.
The Simplot feed lot enterprise is No. 6 in the nation, pumping out 400,000 cattle a year.
The Simplot company, the largest privately held company in the state and about 45th in the nation, also is one of the powerhouses in state politics. During the 1996 election cycle, for example, the company and family members gave $26,350 to individual candidates.
Lockheed-Martin, which runs the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, gave $16,050 to individuals. Hecla Mining Co. gave $10,100, according to Nancy Spittle of United Vision for Idaho.
Simplot backed computer memory chipmaker Micron Technologies with a $1 million investment in 1985. He still owns 13 percent of the company. He owns 6 percent of Boise Cascade Corp., a timber company, and nearly 9 percent of mining company ASARCO.
SSI Food Services - plants in Idaho and Alabama.
Simplot is:
The second-largest producer of frozen french fries in the U.S. and third in the world.
The second-largest producer of frozen vegetables, such as beans, peas, carrot and corn, in the United States.
The second-largest supplier of phosphate fertilizer.
The sixth-largest feedlot operator in the United States.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AT A GLANCE Simplot companies include: J.R. Simplot Co. Boise-based, 5,100 Idaho employees and 12,000 employees worldwide. Simplot Australia - includes 11 food processing plants. Simplot Canada - one plant.