Louis and Dena and their three daughters arrived in Boston from Russia in 1901. After a few years labouring there, he decided to homestead in Alberta where he would be given land and could be independent. In 1906 they arrived in Calgary and from there went to their homestead near Cochrane. They stayed only a few years before moving to Calgary where Louis died in 1909 at age 47.

After spending some years in Calgary, Max missed the homestead life and returned to the country. Here we see him at about the age of 18 with the six-horse team he drove to haul grain for a Nanton-area farmer.