Hydric soils (wetlands) are important because they provide food and habitat to numerous threatened and endangered species, improve water quality by intercepting surface run-off, limit sediment and nutrient transport to streams, mitigate flooding by storing floodwaters, and replenish groundwater. For these reasons and more, the law protects hydric soils. In order to be protected, hydric soils must first be identified. The key to identification is soil morphology because there is generally a good relationship between soil color patterns and soil hydrology. Low chroma colors, gleying, increase in abundance the longer a soil is saturated and chemically reduced. However, dark surface horizons, common in Illinois, mask soil gleying, making color criteria difficult to apply. The TF7 test indicator was developed to accommodate wet soils with thick dark surface horizons. The work reported here includes correlations of field soil morphology and water table records over a three-year period. The goal of this research project was to correlate the effects of local hydrology (depth to water table) on the morphological properties of soils in selected areas in Illinois. Morphological evidence of wetness included thickened A horizon and gleyed B horizons. Our research shows that TF7 works in Illinois. Soils that meet the TF7 criteria are wet sufficiently long enough to be considered hydric.