Dawn Phelps
Columnist
Our adventure to an old bridge at Rice, Kansas, happened a couple of weeks ago on July 4, a day that my husband Tom and I drove to Concordia, Kansas, to shop. We planned to stop at the Homestore on the east side of town first, so we decided to take the black-top roads to Concordia rather than our usual route. Sometimes it is more enjoyable to drive the smaller roads through the countryside anyway.
At Ames, we turned left onto Highway 9 that passes through Rice, an unincorporated community. For the “umpteenth” time, I watched for a weathered old sign pointing the way to the “Stone Arch Bridge.” For many years, I had noticed the sign and commented that “someday” I intended to drive to the old bridge to check it out, but we were usually in a hurry.
But on July 4th we did not have a deadline, and no company was coming. So, I asked Tom, “Hey, what would you think about coming back this way and check out the old bridge on our way home?” And we decided we would.
We again spotted the old sign in Rice on our trip home. We turned north onto a gravel road and soon saw another sign that pointed to the right for the Stone Arch Bridge. Before our adventure, I knew nothing about the bridge, but after our visit, I found information that lists the bridge as “for pedestrians” only.
I drove very slowly as the road became narrower, and the gravel turned into grass! But we proceeded. Up ahead on the right, there was a historical marker, and I made a mental note to take a photo of it before leaving. As our car moved forward, the grassy road narrowed more.
It appeared that the stone arch was going to be under us. Choke berry bushes slapped the driver’s side of the car, scratching and making screechy noises. I stopped the car, rolled down the window, picked a couple of ripe black cherries, handed one to Tom, and ate one myself. If you’ve eaten choke cherries, you know they are mostly seeds, and they are a bit bitter, but they make good jelly!
I peered down into a deep ravine on the left—there was no water at the bottom of the ravine under the bridge. There was a wooden fence on the right side with a deep drop-off on that side too. I knew I needed to keep the car in the middle of the narrow grassy road that formed the top of the stone arch bridge.
A few feet in front of the car was a bench with the name Ray Doyen Memorial Bridge on it. Behind the bench was a patch of grass with a fence separating it from a field. We were at the end of the road—the road led nowhere! We came for an adventure, and we were getting one.
We exited the car and took photos of the bench, the historical plaque, the ravine to the left, and the old bridge from above. A steep path led to the bottom of the bridge, but if we had gone down it, it would have been difficult to climb back up, so we did not dare go down! Then came the “fun part” when I realized the only way out was to back the car out—there was not enough room to turn the car around in front of the bench.
When I started carefully backing the car up, the choke cherry bushes again clawed and screeched on the driver’s side of the car. But I was afraid to drive much closer to the right side of the bridge with a not-so-strong wooden barrier to keep a car from falling 15-20 feet down! Apprehensively, I stopped the car, and Tom and I got out to check on our situation.
Tom watched as I carefully backed the car to a slightly wider spot near the historical plaque. There I turned the car around—forward a few feet, then backward; forward, then backward again, repeating the same actions until I could drive forward to return to the gravel road that had led us to the bridge.
By then, we had learned about the Stone Arch Bridge up close, but I later searched for more information. I learned the bridge was originally built by J.B. Tremblay in 1899 for $200. The main road went over the top of the stone structure until 1920 when the road was moved slightly south. The bridge continued to carry vehicles until 1950.
In 1990, the bridge was restored by Ray A. Doyen and was renamed for him. Ray was born in Rice in 1924, and he died in 2016. He was actively engaged in his community and in Concordia. His brother Lee Doyen taught at Cloud County Community College, and another brother Ross Doyen became a senator.
Both Lee and Ray Doyen married ladies named Peggy. Ray was married to Peggy Lou, and Lee was married to Peggy Jean. I took a speech class from Peggy J. many years ago at CCCC. She was an excellent teacher!
The definition of an adventure is “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity,” and I think our trip to the old bridge fits that description—especially the “hazardous” part—I would not want to drive over that bridge at night! As Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story,” and Dr. Seuss would say, “Oh, the places we did go.”
