Smith's first business venture occurred in 1873, when he opened a livestock commission in New York City.

Again on the verge of financial failure, Smith decided to enter into the lucrative business of producing firearms.

and his older brother Leroy joined forces with an established firearms designer, William H. Baker, to form W.H.

Despite the success of the company, Smith decided to sell the manufacturing rights for the entire line of L.C.

Hunter Arms would produce the line until 1945, when they sold it to Marlin Firearms Company.

The company experienced a decline in sales since the mid-1980s upon the introduction of PC-based word processing.

Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse was named after him.