William Ellsworth Smythe

William Ellsworth Smythe, known as W. E. Smythe (1861–1922), was a journalist, writer and founder of the Little Landers movement, which aimed to settle small suburban lots with people who would farm their own properties, live off the land and sell or trade the surplus for needed income. In 1908 he set up such a colony in the Tijuana River valley (now San Ysidro, California), and in 1913 he joined in developing a similar venture in Tujunga, California. Smythe described the basic structure of the Little Land philosophy as colonies that "would provide low priced land, a public irrigation system and a cooperative market for the colony's products."

Smythe was born December 24, 1861, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to William Augustus Smythe, a wealthy shoe manufacturer, and Abbie Bailey Smythe. In 1882 he and Harriet Bridge were married. They had three children. Smythe died at the age of 61 on October 6, 1922, in his apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York City. He was survived by his son, W.E. Smythe Jr.

In high school he was editor of the school newspaper and later, in 1881, at the age of twenty, he tried to establish a printing business, but failed. But in 1889 a feisty Nebraska newspaper publisher named Edward Rosewater made Smythe the editor of the Omaha Bee.

"The next year a terrible draught [sic] gripped the Great plains. Smythe saw farmers abandoning their land and, within sight of creeks that had carried water a year before, shoot their livestock because they couldn't prevent the beasts from dying of thirst."

Smythe obtained the publisher's approval for a series of articles about the importance of irrigation. He researched the subject carefully, going back to the times of ancient Egypt, and published articles daily. He wrote for national magazines. He spoke at public meetings and became chairman of the influential National Irrigation Congress. Eventually he traveled the breadth of the country to drive home his message. He founded a magazine, Irrigation Age, which he edited until 1896.

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