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"We never missed a delivery," said Beverly Merrill.
That was after the disastrous 1989 fire that largely destroyed Merrill Egg Farm, near Eagle, and roasted nearly a quarter-million chickens with it.
"It was a very frightening experience at the time," she said. "But in the long run, it turned out to be a blessing, because we were able to build a high-tech operation."
The blaze, which erupted the night of Nov. 30, 1989, put the business into survival mode while rebuilding, and hastened the transfer of production from Eagle to Emmett, where the company had bought a 400-acre farm for future use.
That process was completed a couple of weeks ago, Merrill said, and operations are now totally in Emmett, although the company's offices and retail sales room will remain at 1129 E. State St., where a 6-foot-tall chicken marks the spot as Merrill's.
"A few years ago, somone shot an arrow into that chicken ... it's still there," observed Merrill, the family matriarch.
Insurance covered most of the losses from the fire, she said, providing some $2 million in capital for reconstruction. The Merrills -- husband Reid founded the business in 1952 -- plowed their own resources into the project, raising the total investment to "$2 million plus more, I don't know exactly."
"We've put everything we earned over the last 40 years into the...