It took Palm Springs little more than a hundred years to grow from a dusty dirt-street town of cowboys, pioneers, and Native Americans to a world-famous resort that, along with its brethren cities, attracts more than three million visitors a year. The stories of how those cowboys, pioneers, and Native peoples built their dreams out of sand and palm trees are in turn flamboyant, mundane, courageous, cowardly, inspiring, and dispiriting. It’s a fascinating tale that explains a lot about the character of the Palm Springs area today.