The Little Landers colonies were attempts at small-scale cooperative agriculture in California, organized by journalist and writer William E. Smythe.
[4] It was named San Ysidro, probably after the patron saint of farmers, Isidore the Laborer,[5] and was formally inaugurated on January 11, 1909.
Lack of capital, agricultural knowledge, and water supply caused problems for the colonists, and a new corporation, Little Landers, Incorporated, was formed in December 1910, organized according to the New England town meeting model.
In his account the competition of higher paying war work made a significant impact on these colonies, which otherwise gave some signs of viability.
Another colony, called "Los Terrenitos" (English: "The Little Lands"), and established around 1913, was in the valley between the Verdugo and Sierra Madre Mountains, the current site of Tujunga.