The land in South Fork Canyon now known as the X Diamond Ranch was originally homesteaded by James Hale. On Christmas Day in 1886, Hale was killed in a gunfight in Springerville. By 1893, Jacob Noah Butler, Wink Crigler's great-grandfather, began cultivating this same land along with his son, John T. Butler.

In 1908, John Butler married Molly Wiltbank Crosby and combined their land, cattle and properties. In South Fork they established the MLY cattle ranch, named after Molly's MLY brand. Over the years they bought many adjoining acres, thus expanding the Butler family's South Fork property.

John and Molly Butler had two sons, Vinson (Wink's father) and Willis, and bought them each a brand. Vince's was Cross L and Willis' was the X Diamond.

Vince, the eldest, worked the land and Willis went into law enforcement, eventually becoming the sheriff of Yavapai County. While still a young man, Willis died and Vince bought his brother's share of the family's holdings and his X Diamond brand. At about the same time, Vince's father also passed away. Vince and his wife Helen then began buying out Molly's interest in the MLY Ranch (Molly retained the Greer properties including the Butler Lodge). Vince and Helen renamed their South Fork ranch the Cross L.

Vince and Helen Butler had three girls who all learned the many facets of running a cattle ranch. Wink ultimately inherited the Cross L Ranch (renaming it X Diamond) and gave her two sisters the MLY half. Wink and her sister Sug later combined their properties and Wink was able to add additional properties to the family's ranch. Today Wink and her sister jointly run the cattle operation under the X Diamond and MLY brands.

In order to best protect the integrity of their heritage and their 12,000-acre ranch, Wink has developed many new uses for the X Diamond Ranch. In addition to maintaining horses and a small cattle operation, Wink has restored the portion of the Little Colorado running through her property and developed it into a prized fly fishing stream. An archaeologist is uncovering extensive Indian ruins found throughout her property. Wink has also built a museum to keep the memories of area pioneers alive and regularly conducts tours for school children and other visitors. Most recently, Wink's niece Mosty has returned to the ranch and added a day spa.