Sediment routing in rivers can be describe in terms of three one dimensional equations, the Saint Venant, continuity and dynamic equations of motion, and sediment mass balance. The solution of these equations requires two supplementary relationships for frictions resistance and sediment transport which contain empirical constant in one form or the other. It is often difficult to determine these empirical constants a priori with any degree of certainly. One method of determining the constants in a particular situation is to optimize on observed river data. This paper deals with such an investigation. In this investigation a novel coupled linear implicit method is used to solve these sediment routing equations and the sediment routing parameters are identified by using the gradient techniques of optimization. These are applied to real river data for the Missouri Rivers.