[2] Born in Crab Orchard, Kentucky,[3] Smith ran away from home as a teenager to work on a flatboat on the Mississippi River until reaching St. Louis, Missouri where he began working for John Jacob Astor as a fur trapper with other mountain men such as Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and Milton Sublette.

In one incident, Smith guided around 150 Utes under the leadership of Walkara across the Sierra Nevada, stealing at least several hundred horses from Mexican ranchers.

[7] Joining Jim Beckwourth and "Old Bill" Williams, Smith helped establish the largest horse theft operation in the Southwest until authorities eventually forced the gang to break up in the late 1840s.

[9] Actor Ralph Sanford portrayed Smith in "The Lost Pegleg Mine" (1952), the fourth episode of the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.

In the story line, Peter Trumble (Gil Frye) (1918–2000) is competing with Jeanne DeCourcey (Gloria Eaton) in a race to find the lost mine.