"The first settlers in California weren't looking around and saying, "someday, this place will be famous for building microchips." "

No, they were interested in sea otter pelts or later "making money" [finding gold- which was money]

"Las Vegas was founded because of the springs there. Nobody was thinking "casinos." "

Water is important in a desert, but what caused the casinos was the cheap imported water and power.

In general, water in a desert can make a place a way station on the road to other places- so in a sense a local water supply is creating a market- it may not actually sell the water, but a source of water can bring traffic in which other things needed can be sold.

Las Vegas the gambling mecca was by-product of a market [supplying power to California].

My point is that whether someone could go somewhere and survive is not very important- that in itself won't open the space frontier. And with space, one has the high cost of getting there. It's only after markets which will drive down the cost of getting into space that people could then choose to settle in remote places in the space environment with low commercial value/interaction.