Always one to seize the opportunities presented by each era's technological marvels, Mr. Simplot got his start in 1923 at the age of 14. After storming out of his father's house in a huff, young Jack set himself up as a hog farmer. His break came during a harsh winter, when feed grain was in short supply, but potato scraps and wild horse meat were plentiful. He adapted the latest boiler technology into a rendering vat that produced a fortified hog slop. The next spring, when his competitors led their scrawny survivors to market, Jack Simplot made a killing with his fat hogs.

From this start evolved the J. R. Simplot Company, now one of the largest private enterprises in the country, with interests in farming, food processing, mining and transportation and annual sales of $2.5 billion. And then, in 1980, at age 71, in what must be one of the greatest second acts in business history, Mr. Simplot decided to help a pair of local businessmen -- twin brothers, who against all odds, wanted to make computer chips here in the heart of potato country.

Having yet again seized an era's technological moment, Mr. Simplot today is the single-largest shareholder in Micron Technology, one of the world's most efficient makers of the memory chips found in computers and other electronic devices. The 22 percent of the company's shares he controls is worth $1.8 billion.

"We make the best dang digits in the world," he bellowed in a recent interview in his corner office atop one of the nondescript office towers on Main Street. He was referring to Micron's chips and, though he himself does not own a personal computer, sounded like an avid reader of Wired magazine. "We're going to digitize the world," he declared.

Assuming, that is, that Micron's stock can pull out of the nose dive that has seen the shares plummet from more than $94 last September.