The red dirt of Allen Street that, at one time, was kicked up by the hooves of horses, ground beneath the wheels of carriages and whipped by the wind and countless gunfights now sits quietly where it was piled in a lower-level parking lot on the south end of Sixth Street.

The removal of the dirt was carried out near the end of June after the city answered the growing number of complaints from merchants and tourists.

“Before we took the dirt off the street, I had to change my vacuum bags every week with five pounds of dirt in them,” said Frank Groppo who co-owns Russell’s Road Runners at 428 E Allen St. “I change them once a month now, they’re half full. We had to wipe our counters all day long, every single day. Now we keep the store clean but it’s not an all day effort, and we can do other things like selling merchandise.” Groppo said he began making complaints to the city council as soon as the dirt was laid down in 2006, citing the Arizona Department of Health Services’ warnings about the link between diseases such as asthma and airborne particulates.

“The dirt by itself and the constant grinding made it deadly for older people, those with asthma and younger children,” he said. The problem was made worse by the use of metal wheels on carriage tours, which would continuously grind the dirt into a fine powder.

“Some days when the wind would blow there would be clouds that would come up and down the street all during the day. Sometimes it would blow for 30 seconds at a time,” Groppo said.

Originally, the city had planned to stabilize the dirt with a non-toxic liquid called Envirotac, said Mayor Dusty Escapule, who also pushed for the removal of the dirt.

If maintained, Envirotac would keep the look of the dirt but would make it nearly as hard as concrete, he said. To work, however, the substance needed to be applied three months after its first layer and then about twice a year from then on.

“They went three years and did it one time, and that’s probably the reason why it didn’t work like it was supposed to,” Escapule said.

Rather than attempt to control the problem with more Envirotac, the city had the dirt pushed off and exposed the asphalt roadway that lay under it.

“The safety issue is under control,” Escapule said.

To complete the task, the city rented a piece of machinery and an operator. It took a day and a half and cost less than $2,000—a fraction of the $18,000 that was paid to put the dirt down, he said.

But now, three months after the dirt was piled in its parking lot, there are still issues to be addressed. Namely, how to uphold the historic quality of Tombstone’s main throughway without the historically accurate dirt road.

“People don’t come here to see asphalt,” said one concerned citizen who requested their name not be printed so as to avoid political confrontation. “This is an old cowboy town, of course you’re going to have dirt.”

One idea that is on the books at City Hall is painting the street to resemble the dirt.

“We’ve been in contact with the manufacturer that distributes the paint to the Arizona Department of Transportation and they’ve been willing to work with us at a very reduced rate,” Escapule said. The paint that is used to line state highways would be available to Tombstone at the price of 19 cents per square foot and can by dyed to any color, he continued.

“The paint would really lineate the historic area. When you tell people to come to Tombstone, tell them to look for the dark brown street,” Groppo said. “For a town that brings in this kind ¬of tourism, these streets should be impeccable.”

But everyone is not in agreement on painting the street.

“How can you paint asphalt and make it look like 1880. That’s not going to work,” said Bob Campbell an employee with Tombstone Ghosts & Legends. “It’s just going to be slicker than heck when it rains.”

“I know that there are an awful lot of tourists that do like the dirt,” said “Preacher” Tom Clark, a ferrier for Old Tombstone Historical Tours. “It doesn’t hurt my horses to be walking on the asphalt.”

Cheri Escapule, owner of Old Tombstone Historical Tours and mayor’s wife, mentioned that the company still purchases the same number of horseshoes and hasn’t noticed any excess wear on them since the dirt was removed. The horses, which rotate every three days, still work through their shoes after about 10 days of labor, she said.

There are currently no plans for when, or even if, Allen Street would be painted, Dusty Escapule said. Although he cites the ADOT paint as one of the most likely options, he said that the city is not ready to undertake the task, due to the decrease in state funding caused by the recession.

The fate of the dirt is as certain as that of Allen Street itself. At some point it may be used on Fourth and Fifth Streets where there are high curbs and boardwalks, Dusty Escapule said. It will make the streets safer as well as making them more consistent with Allen Street.

“The economy has made a much bigger impact than the fact that the dirt’s missing,” Clark said.