Terminal utility missing

I just upgraded to Leopard yesterday on my MacBook (C2D).
As I'm a Linux user, I wanted to put the Terminal in the dock (as I had in Tiger).
So, I opened Application>Utilities and dragged the Terminal icon to the dock. However, it didn't stay long and disappeared after a few seconds.
Not only that but it also disappeared from the Applications>Utility folder with the result that now I cannot access the Terminal at all.
What did I do wrong and how do I get the Terminal back?
Thanks
Paul

 

Thanks for the reply.
Spotlight?
Well, I used Finder and the Magifying Glass thing to try to locate Terminal but nothing found.
As a last resort, I can always re-install Leopard but there must be an easier way.

 

OK, I found Spotlight but, unfortunately NOT the terminal. Not in Trash either.
It really does seem like it's truly gone.
Looks like I'm going to have to re-install Leopard.
However, I'm a bit concerned about an OS where just dragging something to the Dock means you lose it.
Very puzzling.

 

OK, I've re-installed Leopard and the Terminal is back. And this time I've managed to place it in the dock without losing it.
I have the impression that the first time I had actually (inadvertently) tried to place the Terminal in the far right of the dock (where the trash can is). Would this have any bearing on whether it got lost or not?
If not, any other reason why I might have lost it first time around. I'd really like to try and avoid this happening again.