Complex sentence: They were sent to protect the railroads and workers from settlers who feared the railroad, which had been awarded land by the US Government in rights-of-way, would evict them from their squatter homes.
Split into simpler sentences: They were sent to protect the railroads and workers from settlers. Some of the latter feared that the railroad, which had been awarded land for development by the US Government in rights-of-way, would evict them from their squatter homes.