The Totem
May 12 was totem day at Sitka. We finally got the totem pole up to the outdoor classroom and stood up where it will live. Here you see the carver, Jay Haavik, cleaning the totem after a winter wrapped in black plastic (the pole, not the carver).

That large antiballistic missile-like object to the left is the galvanized steel base and mounting flange — about 700 pounds of steel. Oh yeah, and the base is bolted down to about ten yards of concrete (filling an eight-foot hole) with a bunch of three-foot J-bolts.

Getting the track hoe in place to lift the totem.
And there it is. After the wrapping came off, the crowning touch was a green slug at the top (see below). The whole operation makes you wonder how they did it in the olden days without a track hoe. On the following page we've started on the lower entrance slab and the approach paths from the parking lot.