In 1928, Mort wrote a short history of Columbus in his memoirs. He wrote about how Polk County was formed and gave details and names of the people who carved “the Polk County seat” (Columbus) out of the wilderness. Then he said, “the town was in a prosperous condition from 1855 to 1861, when all things seemed to stop. Property depreciated in value and the town (of Columbus) was soon in a dilapidated condition and remained so until the year 1891, at which time F.M. Stearns of Cleveland, Ohio visited our village while on a trip south.”