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Apparently it didn't have anything to do with navigation.

It goes back to claims that the US made on the northern half of the river bed and claims that Spain, Mexico, and Texas never made. And those claims that the US made on the northern half were inherited by OK when she became a state.

The issue that precipitated this particular court case was oil. Oil was discovered and some of these Texas drillers were directional drilling to the north and producing oil from lands owned by Okies. So Oklahoma sued Texas. And in this case the US claimed the southern half of the bed, AND THE MINERAL RIGHTS BENEATH THE BED.

The other dispute is where the Red intersects the longitudinal line border. In that corner there are 3 forks to the river. Texas established the north fork as the boundary, but in a treaty with the Indians, the US established the middle fork as the boundary.

We look at this issue backwards, literally. We need to go back to 1907 and look forward to get a different perspective. 1918 and 1924 are not long after 1907.

Also, you need to realize there are other issues in play. Texas has been trying to get the water out of Oklahoma's Kiamichi River and the courts(federal) keep ruling against Texas. And, it is campaign season in Texas.