American tax laws favor donations of land, especially if it has...

American tax laws favor donations of land, especially if it has gone up in value. The property may have been worth $50,000 in 2004. The gift would result in a tax deduction and they were probably paying 41% combined federal and state tax. So, the net cost of the gift was less than $30,000. And had they sold it, the tax on the gain would have been 25%, so their net would be only $37,500, and maybe only $32,500 after broker commissions.

They could probably get an appraisal, for tax purposes, of $50,000 even when the selling price would have been only $40,000. There wasn’t much of a market for hot springs in remote places back then.