  Accurate determinations of the physical scale of a lattice action are
required to check scaling and take the continuum limit. We present a high
statistics study of the static potential for the SU(3) Wilson gauge action on
coarse lattices ($5.54 \leq \beta \leq 6.0$). Using an improved analysis
procedure we determine the string tension and the Sommer scale $r_0$ (and
related quantities) to 1% accuracy, including all systematic errors. Combining
our results with earlier ones on finer lattices, we present parameterizations
of these quantities that should be accurate to about 1% for $5.6 \leq \beta
\leq 6.5$. We estimate the $\La$-parameter of quenched QCD to be $\La_\MSb =
247(16)$ MeV.
