Rescue of The Martin Handcart Company
One of the first on the scene during the rescue of the 1856 Martin handcart company, Hanks provided buffalo meat to the starving party. As the company moved from day to day, Ephraim Hanks killed many buffalo. The most remarkable thing about it was that I had traveled that road more than fifty times, and never before saw so many buffaloes in that part of the country. There was not a member of the party but what believed that the Lord had sent them to us in answer to prayer.
Hanks also administered to the sick and dying. Finding many of the emigrants with frozen hands and feet, Hanks later wrote: Many such I washed with water and castile soap, until the frozen parts would fall off.
Hanks provided another important service: Many of the Saints had frozen limbs which were endangering their lives. Brother Hanks anointed these folks and prayed that an amputation could be done without pain. Then he took out his great hunting knife, held to the fire to cleanse it, and took off the dying limb with its keen blade; many with tears in their eyes said they hadn't felt a thing.
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