After the Civil War, the East was hungry for meat; the West had cattle, pigs, poultry, and other animal protein favorites. The challenge was to efficiently connect the product and the market. Stockyards and slaughterhouses in such western cities as Chicago, Kansas City, and Fort Worth processed animals, which railroads then shipped to eastern places, such as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Whole animals are heavy, take up space, and require at least minimal maintenance if transported live. The cost of conveying the animals, whose mass was mostly inedible, and then butchering and packaging them made prices high for the operator and consumer. The alternative was to slaughter the animals and pack the pieces in salt. The problem was that although Americans liked salted pork products, they did not have a taste for salted beef. By the 1870s, the refrigerated railcar would enable Americans to access unsalted dressed beef and many other products from the West.