STANDING AND ALIGNING THE STONES IN THE SUNWHEEL
Nov. 8, 2000

After 2 days of work -- digging 12 holes, filling them with gravel, wrapping the gravel in Geotextile, and finally, placing and leveling the stone foundation slabs in the holes on top of the gravel -- the ground was prepared for the addition of the tall standing stones to the Sunwheel. It was one of those beautiful, warm and sunny November days.

Each stone was carried in a sling from the roadside to its proper location in the Sunwheel. This stone is one of 2 stones for the East portal.

Each stone was placed on the ground, and the sling was unhitched, as shown here with Allen Wlliams and helper Shawn from Chester Granite.

The hitch was reattached so the stone was hanging essentially vertically. This helped facilitate the process of aligning the stones.

After determining the proper placement of each stone, a hole was drilled about 10" into the granite slab. This hole was for one end of a 1" diameter stainless steel pin, which extended into the slab and 1' into the standing stone for permanent stability. This photograph shows the marking of the stone slab for the hole to be drilled underneath one of the stones in the East portal.

The hole is drilled in the foundation slab for the Northern Moonrise stone by Allen Williams, with Kevin Moore looking on.

Moving the Winter Solstice Sunset stone to its proper location in the Sunwheel.

Determining the proper alignment for the Winter Solstice Sunset stone.

The Winter Solstice Sunset stone being lowered over the stainless steel pin -- Allen Williams, Gene Stewart, and I look on.

After each stone was lowered onto the stainless steel pin, it temporarily rested on 4 wooden wedges so the cloth sling could be removed. This photograph shows Allen Williams placing epoxy under the standing stone, so that when it is lowered onto the foundation slab the standing stone and slab will bond permanently.

After 7 hours of construction, 9 of the 14 tall stones in the Sunwheel were standing on the afternoon of Nov. 8, 2000. The first stone took over 2 hours to align, the second took 1 hour, and after that each stone was standing in about 1/2 hour.

A happy crew at the end of a successful day of construction, with the end in sight. The entire process went more smoothly than any of us dared to imagine.