The Yukon Historic Resources Fund is contributing $15,300 to five projects that further the preservation, interpretation and appreciation of the territory's historic resources.

The projects receiving funding range from conservation and commemoration work at three Dawson City cemeteries to the production of an illustrated publication about Yukon sternwheeler and Whitehorse waterfront history.

Another publication project to receive money is the second phase of Erin McMullan's work to write and publish a biography on longtime Yukoner Evelyn Mae (Babe) Richards.

McMullan is a Whitehorse-based writer and editor who focuses on community history.

"The Yukon Historic Resources Fund was the first to support The Unsinkable Babe Richards: An Extraordinary Yukon Life as a viable and valuable story to share,” McMullan said last Friday.

The $2,000 grant will result in a completed manuscript to submit to potential publishers.

"The funding support helped to give the project momentum, helped convince other funders to get on board, but most importantly, it made the dream of an 86-year-old Yukon pioneer real—a woman who had given her lifetime to her community, family and friends.”

Here is a list of the other grant recipients and their projects:

• the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club, $2,000 to document the club's history to upload it onto the club's website;

• the Miles Canyon Historic Railway Society, $3,000 for improved interpretation at its Copperbelt Railway and Mining Museum;

• the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, $4,000 for an illustrated book about Yukon sternwheeler and Whitehorse waterfront history; and

• Ed and Star Jones, $4,300 for Dawson cemeteries restoration and commemoration activities on three historically significant cemeteries: Hillside, Bet Chaim and Yukon Order of Pioneers on Eighth Avenue.

The annual application deadline for the Yukon Historic Resources Fund is Oct. 15. All applications are assessed by the Yukon Heritage Resources Board, which makes its recommendations to Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor.

Those eligible to apply include private citizens, groups, First Nations and municipalities.

"The Yukon government, working with the Yukon Heritage Resources Board, is pleased to support projects aimed at preserving important elements of Yukon history,” Taylor said.

"Each unique voice, each unique story, each unique project complements the important historical legacies that might otherwise be lost.”

The fund is an annual program that supports the objectives of the Yukon Historic Resources Act.