 In 1897 he was moved to Portland, Maine, where he worked on design of buildings, roads, wharves, fortifications and coastal structures until being transferred back to Charleston in 1903 to assume authority over the design and construction of fortifications in the Charleston district.He was elevated from associate member to full member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1906.In 1905, the Army Corps of Engineers assigned Smith to Washington, D.C., working on engineering plans for the Panama Canal.