Dodds, W. A.

He had Aspen Grove House, and applied for a liquor license in 1901. He was the postmaster at Aspen Grove from June 1, 1901 to December 18, 1908.

Memoirs of Hugh Hunter – The casting of lots was an old Biblical custom which I once saw carried out in the shape of a game of cards to see who should get a liquor license. At the summer licensing sessions in 1901, one of the first held here, the board had applications for licenses from W.A. Dodds, of the Aspen Grove House, and Donald Munro, of the Wayside House, a bit out of Aspen Grove on the Otter Flat road. Both places were regular stopping-places between the Nicola Valley and the Similkameen, and both were well-conducted by men who were highly thought of in the community. Dodds’ place was probably the oldest of the two, he having been an old-time settler there and a well-known stock-raiser and rancher. So far as I remember “Judge” Murphy, Alex D. Bell, and Charley Thomas were the license commissioners. Anyway, they decided that they would give one license only for Aspen Grove and vicinity, and they left it to the applicants
themselves to decide who should drop out. Both men were good poker players and they agreed to decide the matter by a poker hand. Munro won out, Dodds withdrew his application, and both were satisfied. That is the only time I ever saw or heard of such a method of deciding an application in any court in our part of the country.