In the early 1800s, White Rock, a point well known to Indians and early voyagers, played a significant role in defining settlement in the Territory of Michigan. The act establishing the Territory of Michigan was passed on January 11, 1805, and took effect on June 30 of that year. To facilitate settlement of the territory, and in accordance with United States policy, a treaty was made on November 17, 1807. Governor William Hull, Michigan's first governor, acting for the United States, negotiated certain rights and several small reservations with the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandotte, and Potawatomi tribes. The 1807 treaty included part of the state lying east of a line running along the west side of what is now Lenawee and Shiawassee counties, and from about the center of the west line of the latter county northeasterly to White Rock in Lake Huron. As a result of the 1807 treaty signed in Detroit, the Anishinabeg ceded the territory to the United States, and the large white rock visible directly east in Lake Huron was formally named White Rock. White Rock marked the northeast corner of how far north white settlement could extend at that time.