Here are instructions published in 1906 on how to make wooden stilts. After covering the Landes stilts, I felt that it was only appropriate to show how kids in the U.S. were putting together their own stilts to use for play.
Work for the Handy Boy: Stilts
This used to be a favorite outdoor amusement among boys. To a casual observer it appears rather a dangerous sort of sport, but it is not so; with a little practice it is extremely easy.
Many of the shepherds in the desert of Landes, in the south of France, use them with perfect freedom and great rapidity; constant habit enables them to preserve their balance so well that they run, jump, stoop, and dance with the greatest ease and security. They are, by their stilts, enabled to see their flocks at a much greater distance, over a perfectly flat country, their feet being protected from the water during the winter and the heated sand in summer. In addition to the stilts, they use a long staff, which they carry in their hands; this guards them against an accidental trip, and forms a third leg when they require rest.
To make stilts: Procure two poles about six or seven feet long, and nail on a strap of leather, about one-third from the bottom of each; into these the feet are placed, the poles being kept in a proper position by the hands and moved forward by the action of the legs. A wooden step, however, is better, and it gives greater firmness to the tread; it is nailed or screwed to the poles. But the best of all are those that do not reach the hands, but are secured to the leg just below the knee by a strap, the footstep being the same as shown in the illustration.
With the addition of a long staff, any boy could soon manage to walk in safety upon them.
Source: The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho), 15 May 1906.
