It may have been Indian Paintbrush.

Here is a link that might be useful: Indian Paintbrush

murrell,
(I THINK), what you saw, my mother used to call chigger weed. But then again, in some of the seed catalogs, they sell a plant called butterfly bush that resembles what my mother called chigger weed.
Bill

Sounds like a perfect description of Indian Paintbrush as planterman stated above. I think it would be to short to be milkweed and this time of year the Indian Paintbrush is everywhere.

I had a little cousin that died a few years ago at the age of 98 and she said that as a child, born in Indian Territory, she was always told that Indian Paintbrush only grows where an Indian has lived. Not that I believe that story, but I thought it was an interesting piece of Oklahoma folklore that I always remember when I see it blooming.

Yesterday as I came down Hiway 10 I was admiring the fields of red and I remembered what she said. I looked across to the other side of the Hiway and saw a large herd of buffalo. I thought to myself -- Oklahoma is (STILL) OK.

I suppose some of those flowers were sown by the "Color Oklahoma" organization? I just read about them the other day. They provide grants for groups to plant native flowers on the roadsides.

Thanks to All who took the time to answer.

Murrell