Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-07-17
GOTHAlTs BIC VANS.
HOW THEY nRE USED ron LONG
AND SHORT DISTANCE MOVING.

nN'AANhNf ANW" h"N AN"NuAo HHNAu ny
These large vohioiss-Tho business Of
Moving Day Redasod to q soienoo-Trav-
81 b. Train and Steamboat.
The estimator for q storage and van
company win walk into a house or a
fat and estimate within a cubic foot Of
how much space the contents VIII take
up packed, and ho doesn't make any
elaborate computations either. Ho Just
walks in a leisuroly way through a
house from roof to cellar or through a
Fat from end TO end, and when he Is
through be knows. Houses vary great
". One three story hous0 might have
In it three van loads. Tho house iuss
like Il next door might have six, but the
estimator rarely makes n mistake. He
might get half q van load out Of the
way in estimating q six load house, but
this would be quite unusual. He would
be much more likely to hit tho mark.
The contract price Tor moving means
for moving from any floor TO any aoor.
If it is desired, the company will send
barrels, boxes and packing materials and
men to pack crookery, bronzes, books,
brio-a-brac, and so on, at 20 cents o
barrel or its equivalent in space. The
time for loading and for starting the
vans would depend somewhat on where
tile goods were going. If they were go
ing 40 miles into the country, the ans
would DO loaded the afternoon before
and would start at 2 o'clock in the
morning. They would arrive at their
destination at about 10o'clock the same
morning, the horses would be put up
and the vans ~unloaded, the start on the
return would be made at about 2 o'clock
the next morning, and the arrival in the
city would be at about 10.
Vans are specially constructed with
large bodies and low wheels for trans
portation by steamboat or railroad.
Whether horses are taken on such trips
depends altogether on the distance the
vans are going. If to a nearby point,
the horses 20 along; If to a distant
point, 1t lie cheaper to hire horses there.
If want were going TO Newport, for in
stance, they would be shipped on a
freight propeller, whose derrick would
pick 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 ans at the dock 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 horses go with tho vans.
Fifty miles would ordinarily be about
the limit of the distance that vans cover
on their own wheels, but they sometimes
go greater distances. Forty miles would
be not at all unusual, and trips Of 80
miles and less are common. The drivers
know the roads within 80 miles around
New York well. They know where the
paved roads are and those that are most
nearly level, and where the poorer OF
more difficult roads are, too, and so they
know what sort Of an outfit to take.
Where the roads arc good to destination
the vans-would DO drawn by four horses.
On bad or billy roads they would take
six horses. II is interesting to note, al
the result Of the drivers observations,
that the roads around New York arc
better than they used to be, and that
they are steadily improving. Not in
frequently the van companies move peo-
pie from point to another outside Of
the city. For example, a gentleman
who lived in a town nea Bridgeport,
Conn, who was about to move to a
place near Tarrytown, In this state, con-
tracted 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 dis
lance to be covered was so great that il
was impossible to make it in a single
day, and the vans halted at night and
went on in the morning. They went to
and fro in this way until the work was
completed. The bill for this job came
to nearly 81, 800.
The van companies goods be-
tween points in the city as we'll as to
and from it, and besides moving house
hold goods they will estimate 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 came to about 81, 900. Goods NOV
ing in vans on their own wheels are not
insured. In transit by rail or boat they
are insured at the request Of tho owner.
The cost of moving by vans depends, of
course, largely on distance, and 1t varies
somewhat according to season and cir
cumstances. It is cheaper between sea-
sons, and the nature of the roads to be
covered might have something to do
with 1t. TO Morristown, N. j., distance
about 80 miles, the price In tho busy
season would be $3.50 a a and expenses,
the expenses being ferriage and tolls.
To a point, say, 10 miles from the city,
in the busy season, the rate would be $50
a van and expenses.
The storage and van business has in
creased greatly in New York in recent
years. The population Of the city and
its suburbs has increased rapidly, and
there are now more moving days than
formerly. Many leases now run from
April or October, besides those that run
from May, so that the business is more
distributed through the year. The num-
Der Of those who go out Of town for the
summer has increased greatly. Many
persons regularly every year move
household goods enough to furnish or
partly furnish q house at the Reashore or
in the country. There arc many persons
who give up their rents in spring and
store their effects and go away until
fall.-New York Sun.