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The quest was successful, and the Dragon that guarded the hoard was destroyed. Yet, though before all was won the Battle of Five Armies was fought, and Thorin was slain, and many deeds of renown were done, the matter would scarcely have concerned later history, or earned more than a note in the long annals of the Third Age, but for an 'accident' by the way.
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I'm not sure I agree with that. I'm sure Gandalf doesn't agree. I remember him saying (can't think of where it was right off hand, maybe someplace in UT) that he wanted to get rid of Smaug badly because Sauron could've used the dragon "with terrible effect".
In Appendix A of ROTK Gandalf says-
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Yet things might have gone far otherwise and far worse. When you think of the great Battle of the Pelennor, do not forget the battles in Dale and the valor of Durin's folk. Think of what might have been. Dragon-fire and savage swords in Eriador, night in Rivendell. There might be no queen in Gondor. We might now hope to return from victory here only to ruin and ash. But that has been averted because I met Thorin Oakenshield one evening on the edge of spring in Bree."
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According to Gandalf, his meeting with Thorin and the journey to Lonely Mountain that resulted might've stopped the entire Northern section of Middle-Earth from being overrun by evil.
So it seems to me that Thorin's trek and the subsequent death of Smaug definitely concerned later history and was worth more than a note in the annals of the Third Age, in spite of what the text in the Prologue says.