Gotham's Big Vans

The estiinator for a storage and van ;ompany will walk into a house or a flat and estímate within a cubic foot of how mueh space the contents will take np packed, and he doesn't make any alaborate computations either. Ho just walks in a leisurely way through u house from roof to cellar or through a Bat from end to end, and when he is through he knows. Housw vary greatly. One three story house might have in it three van loads. The house jnst like it next door might have six, but the estimator rarely makes a mistake. He might get half a van load out of the way in estiïnating a six load hou&e. but this wonld be quite nnusual. He would be mach more likely to hit the mark. The contract price for inoving nieana for moving from any floor to any floor. If it is desired, the cojnpany will send barrels, boxes and packing materials and men to pack crockery, bronzes, books, bric-a-brac, and so on, at 75 cents a barrel or its equivalent in space, The time for loading and for starting the vans would depend somewhat on where the goods were going. If they were going 40 miles into the country, the vans would be loaded the afternoon before and would start at 3 o'clock in the morning. They would arrive at their destination at about 10 o'clock the same morning, the horses would be put up and the vans nnloaded, the start on the return would be made at about 2 o'clock the next morning, and thearrival ia the city would be at about 10. Vans are specially constructed with large bodies and low wheels for transportation by steamboat or railroad. Whether horses ure taken on such tripa depends altogether on the distance the vans are going. If to a nearby point. the horses go along; if to a distant point, it ia cheaper to hire horses there. if vans were going to Newport, for inatance, ttoey would be shipped on a l'reight propeller, whose derrick would piek them up like great boxes of goods and land them on deck. On such a trip horses would not be taken, but hired in Newport for the hauling there. Horses would meet the vans at the doek upon their return here. Vans go west at least as far as Louisville, south to Baltimore and Washington. In transfers, say to Long Branch and other nearby points, the borses go with the vans. Fifty miles would ordinarily be about the limit of the distance that vans cor on their own whels, bntthey sometii; go greater distances. Forty miles wonld be uot at all unusual, and trips of SO miles and less arecommon. Thedrivers know the roads within 50 miles around New York well. They know where the paved roads aro and those that are most nearly level, and where the poorer or more difficult roads are, too, and so they know what sort of an outfit to take. Where the roads are good to destination the vans would be drawn by four horses. On bad or hilly roads they would take six horses. It is interesting to note, as the result of the drivers' observations, that the roads around New York ars better than they used to be, and that they are steadily improving. Not infrequently the van companies move people from one point toanother outside of the city. For example, a gentleman who lived in a town near Bridgeport, Conn., who was about to move to a place near Tarrytown, in this state, contracted with a van company of this city to move him. Three vans went up from the city on this expedition. The work took about two weeks. Here the distance to be covered was so great that it was iinpoisible to make it in a single day, and the vans halted at night anti went on in the morning. They went to and fro in this way until the work Was completed. The bill for this job caniG to nearly $1,300. The vau companies move goods between points in the city as well as to and from it, and besides moving household goods they will estímate on and contract to remove the contents of a store or a building to another store or building. A recent moving job in this city carne to about $1,200. Goods moring in vans on their own wheels are not insured. In transit by rail or boat they are insured at the request of the owner. Thecost of inoving by vans depends, oí course, largely on distance, and it varies Bomewhat according to season and circumstances. It is cheaper between seasons, and th nature of the roads to be covered might have someiing to de with it. To Morristown, N. .7., distante about 30 miles, the prico In the ba?y season would be $35 a van and expenses, the expenses being ferriage and tolls. To a point, say, 1 miles from the city. in the busy stHtsoi), the rate would be $20 a van and expenses. The storags and van business has increased greatly in New York in recent years. The population of the city and its suburbs hai increased rapidly, and there are novv more moving days thai) formerly. Many leases uow run from April or Oetober, besides those that run from May, so that the business is more distributcd tbrongh the year. Thenumber of those wno go out of town for the summer has incrensed greatly. Man}1 persons regularly every ycar move househt)ld goods ehough to furnish or partly f urni,síi a iíouse at the seashore or in the country. There are naany persons Who give up their renta in spriug and store their eöects and go away until