Manning-Rye bridge, land sold to Port Orchard family

A piece of Whitman County history was sold Tuesday afternoon.

The Manning-Rye Bridge was part of farm property that was sold at auction in the Community Building at the Palouse Empire fairground.

C.D. “Butch” Booker of Kincaid Real Estate in Colfax auctioned the property which has about 194 acres that included pastureland and timber, CRP and farmland, and also included a house.

Daryl and Karen Lowe owned the property for 22 years. They purchased the property from Ruth Lowe, Daryl’s aunt.

The bids began at $100,000 and gradually worked up to $250,000, then $300,000, to $325,000, $375,000 and finally stopped at $425,000.

Todd and Kelley Krause of Port Orchard were the highest bidders. The couple met at Washington State University and want to move back to the Palouse. They have four boys, and operate a raw milk dairy farm.

The sale will officially close Oct. 16, according to Booker.

The Manning-Rye Bridge, which is included in the sale, is listed on the National Historic Register.

According to the National Historic Register, the Manning-Rye Covered Bridge crosses the Palouse River and was constructed about 1918 by the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad. It presumably replaced the original structure built over the Palouse River in 1907. The timber housing protects a single span timber Howe truss which rests on timber pile abutments encased with timber cribs. Because it was necessary to provide for the connection between the locomotive and the overhead electric lines, the top of the bridge was left uncovered.

A second auction the same afternoon was for farmland near Farmington. The bids opened at $150,000 and closed at $240,000 with a bidder representing a farming interest from Iowa.

About a dozen potential bidders registered for the auction.